


Do Your Best

by MimiSeda



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Dialogue Heavy, Enemies to Friends, Explicit Language, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, Male-Female Friendship, Manipulative Relationship, My First Fanfic, Mysteries, Not included in this story, Obsessive Behavior, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Possessive Behavior, Romance, Sexual Content, Since he’s technically an OC, Stockholm Syndrome, Suicide, Temporary Character Death, The Licensed Characters from Dead by Daylight?, They don’t exist here except Ghostface, Unhealthy Relationships, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 77,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27743647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MimiSeda/pseuds/MimiSeda
Summary: (Y/n) is that one Survivor. You know, that “One Survivor”. Sure, she’ll pull her teammates off the hook, patch them up and all.But, God forbid that she’ll touch a generator.She has objectives of her own and she’ll do anything to make her plans flourish. All while unknowingly flourishing relationships between three people.Except. There’s a rather big catch.
Relationships: Claudette Morel & Reader, Danny “Jed Olsen” Johnson | The Ghost Face & Reader, Jake Park/Reader, Yui Kimura & Reader
Comments: 21
Kudos: 53





	1. Tough Love

_** Worrying ** _

“Here, take it. You’re going to need it in this hellhole.”

It was a Med-Kit. And from the looks of it, not a standard one. Not the ones (Y/n) has seen in infirmaries nor in school clinics. This one was big and looked heavy to carry with just one arm. It didn’t look like it belonged in this damned realm, yet it was needed by all.

The woman before (Y/n) is named Claudette Morel. A medic, a botanist, rumored to be a scientist all-together. Well, to (Y/n) it was a rumor, they hardly talked. Nonetheless, she was very skilled.

Claudette was a dark-skinned woman with long, beautiful dreadlocks tied in a low ponytail. She wore a pink-

Was it pink? More like a light salmon.

-uniform-like shirt with blue denim pants and running shoes. Casual stuff, you know?

But anyways..

(Y/n) could tell there were loads of essential supplies in it, definitely ideal for the trials she and the campers have gone through endlessly. Add some more materials in it and she wouldn’t need anyone’s help with medical attention.

The question is, why is Claudette giving it to (Y/n)? Maybe the medic had too many? She could’ve given it to her friends. Her friends. Sitting at the campfire. Literally a few feet away from the two.

The botanist never gave her anything. Not her attention, not the time of day, er.. night or whatever. Nothing. Granted, Claudette did seem like the shy type. She tends to stay away from anyone who generally had a bad rep around the campfire, especially someone rough like David or selfish like Feng Min.

So what was different now? (Y/n) was hella selfish.

She soon relaxed though. It didn’t matter. The important thing is: Claudette needed it more than she did.

“I appreciate the offer. Really. I do, but you should keep it. I’ll find my own.”

(Y/n) replies with her usual, soft and fake smile.

Claudette however, didn’t look too happy. (Y/n) could see it in her brown eyes.

Uh oh .

“This isn’t about me being generous, or doing anything out of the kindness of my heart, or whatever! I’m worried about you for Christ’s sake!”

Worried?

(Y/n) didn’t like that.

She averts her gaze. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Claudette.

So she did what she does best and simply, didn’t respond.

Just ignore them. They’ll usually go away-

“You’re not around in these.. these- Games! And when we do escape, (Y/n).. I don’t know if you make it or not! You’re never at the exit gates! I don’t know what y-you’re doing-“

Oh no, she’s stuttering. Don’t cry, please don’t cry-

“- Or what you think you’re doing, but something tells me you’re n-not taking care of yourself! It’s like you don’t care!”

(Y/n) still didn’t muster up the will to speak, but she looked to Claudette with such sheepishness, it was enough to calm her down.

Or so she thought. She could’ve sworn those tears slowed down.

The odd, heavy Med-Kit was suddenly shoved into her stomach, hitching her breath with a quiet gasp.

“Here! I expect to see you at the gates with us. Alive , (Y/n)!”

With that, Claudette left her alone and extremely dumbfounded.

_** Help Me with the Goddamn Generator! ** _

“Help me with the goddamn generator!”

The pretty, renowned, dark-haired racer named Yui hissed quietly at (Y/n) Hissed. Because any more than that and they’ll be seen. Caught by the ruthless Killer who roams the trial grounds as if it’s her territory.

Well. It IS her territory. By her, the strong, Russian woman masked with a white bunny. Yeah, they were in her rainy territory.

And they had to get the fuck off of it.

Now, if only the woman would help Yui with completing the generator. The faster, the better, and they’ll be out in no time!

But the chest seems.. more interesting.

“I’m deeply sorry, but no.” She whispered.

“You’re practically killing us!”

“I know.”

“Oh my god.. You’re disgusting. What the fuck does Claudette see in you..?”

The noble street-racer gestures towards the Med-Kit in (Y/n) hand.

“I don’t know.”

“Whatever, don’t have time to reason with an insane bitch. I can’t believe this..”

Yui’s voice trembled for a moment.

(Y/n)’s heart trembled in sync.

Oh! A map. Nice, nice. It didn’t seem like an ordinary one, though.

Oh well.

Picking up the map, (Y/n) made her way over to Yui. Yui Kimura, who stopped working on the generator to look up at her with an intense aversion in those reddened, glossy hazel-eyes.

Curly but damp, black and white highlighted hair, her grey vest was drenched with water, bandages covered in grease and mud.

Still, the top never failed to accentuate her muscles.

Below the chain belt was a pair of black pants and boots with pink shoe-straps, in the same bad condition as the vest and shirt. Yui ditched the bandanna mask because of this reason.

She always had a good sense of style.

Oh?

Oh.. the tears came.

Great. (Y/n) made two people cry today.

“What?” She spat. “Go ahead and mock me for bitching at you.”

You mean because you’re crying?

With an apologetic gaze, (Y/n) sets the heavy duty Med-Kit down at Yui’s feet. With a map in hand and ready to be read, she turned and left the area.Her body ever so slowly and wonderfully becoming harder to see within the fog.

Yui tears her eyes away from (Y/n) and looks at the Med-Kit solemnly. She couldn’t gawk at it too long, though. Her generator was almost done.

_** Result: DEAD ** _

(Y/n) finds the spot in the rainy, humid map of the Red Forest. She walked towards the dead-end corner carefully. Fallen, soaked leaves and dirt turned into mud squished under her uwabaki.

Uwabaki?

The woman looks down at the white, dirty, comfortable souvenirs she got from her trip to Japan. Her (E/c) eyes travel from them to her white socks, now soaked by the rain and mud.

It doesn’t stop there.

Her soft, black pants were already worn out from being chased by the Huntress earlier. She was hooked after a minute, but Claudette came to the rescue.

A tear formed at her right thigh and another at her left, lower calf. Her lavender shirt that hung by her shoulders was also filthy, the sleeves that stopped at her elbows where torn.

The bandages from where the hook injury resided in were bloody, but she no longer bled from that wound, thanks to Claudette’s expertise.

She looked dreadful. And her sickly pale skin and damp (h/c) hair didn’t make it any better.

(Y/n) sighed, gulping down a lump in her throat before focusing on the task at hand.

Right.

Right here. What she’s looking for is in this very corner of the map. Should she attempt to climb first or dig her way through?

The dirt was soft. All muddy and malleable enough to go under these fences so, it wouldn’t hurt to try the easiest option fir-

“Why are you just standing there?” Said a soft-spoken, but rough voice.

Who?

(Y/n) tentatively rolled up her map and turned to the speaker of that voice.

Ah, him. Jake. Jake Park.

Standing there lazily with his comfy, waterproof green jacket and baggy, yellow cargo pants.

It really looked as though he came prepared to this realm. But no, (Y/n) heard that he was a woodsman.

His grey boots were covered by the pants, and the rest of his attire was adorned with a grey, camo scarf. The only thing damp by the rain was his scarf and his messy, dark-brown hair. Jake carried an odd toolbox in his hand.

They never spoke until now. He never really talks to anyone she noticed, except maybe Claudette. He was always the silent and stoic type with a dark sense of humor, but even (Y/n) knew he was on good terms with the campers.

His incomparable skill to break the one thing that gets them all sacrificed, saving their lives in the process, is what she believed that made him adored amongst the Survivors.

She couldn’t blame them, at all.

“I’m looking for something. Please, excuse me.” She said with a small smile.

Jake inwardly irked. Why did she talk like that? So formal and completely unnecessary, he felt it was condescending. Of course, he didn’t show it.

“Not planning on escaping, huh.”

Is he here for Claudette?

“No. I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Because, you’re disappointed.”

“It’s not just me, (Y/n).”

“I know.”

A pause. Rain splish-splashing onto the muddy dirt.

“Come back and leave with us.”

(Y/n) turns away, opening up her map. “I can’t just do that..”

“You can.”

“It’s not that simple, Jake. Please .” Her voice raised a little. Pleadingly.

“It actually is that simple.” His voice had a teasing undertone to it. “Just turn around and come back.” The loner stepped closer in reasoning.

“You don’t understand.” Her voice wavers, as she closes the map and turns around to face the woodsman.

Awesome. She made herself cry.

“I-I’m this close!” She hisses and stutters.

“Close to what exactly, (Y/n)? From what I’m seeing, you’re just obsessed with nothing.” His dark, chocolate eyes narrows in disdain.

“There’s something beyond that wall!”

“Doubt that.”

She tries to stop crying. Turning around, she decides to ignore him like she does oh so well and just read the damn map. Why didn’t she start doing that from the get-go? He’ll go away so-

“Put the map down.” She heard him step closer.

“Please, just.. leave me be.” She closes it again. This time, getting on her hands and knees to see if she can dig under the fence.

“Can’t do that.” Another step.

“Yes, you can. Please, Jake.” Her voice sounded broken.

Then, it was silent. (Y/n) heard a few more mushy steps being taken, until she didn’t feel Jake’s presence anymore.

Good.

_** Cautious ** _

The woman shut everyone out. Every living thing, even the birds that lounged watchfully around the campfire. She didn’t want to see a living being other than herself.

(Y/n) rested within her makeshift tent. Far, far away from the rest of the chatty Survivors.

Not that they minded.

But no, the Survivors themselves are not the reason she isolated herself.

Kind of.

It’s mostly because of whatever the hell happened last trial.

Okay okay, let’s back track.

First and foremost: She knew she died.

Claudette made sure she knew that.

When (Y/n) materialized at the campfire after the trial, she gotten another tearful lecture from the botanist.

Claudette knew about the death. She knew that (Y/n) gave her Med-Kit to Yui, who survived just fine, and left Yui to god knows where. Nowhere to be seen and died without anyone there to witness it.

But, (Y/n) didn’t know how she died.

She wasn’t sacrificed. She knew because she’s only been pushed onto those sacrificial meat hooks once.

Wait, was the Entity summoned?

. . .

No. No, (Y/n) recalls never touching those nightmarish claws to stop herself from being taken. She was saved by Claudette and she most certainly was never hooked a second time.

So then, was it a Mori?

(Y/n) thinks about the time she, Claudette, Jake, and Yui were about to begin a trial.

The offerings.

Claudette brought a weird jar filled with human lips. The crazy woman believed it would bring good luck.

But, good luck did it sure did bring.

When Yui was hooked, she successfully pushed herself off the hook. Losing no flesh in the process.

When Jake was hooked, he managed to tug himself off without the help of his teammates.

Independent, as always.

Speaking of Jake, his offering were these beautiful flowers. (Y/n)’s heart wrenched when she watched as they burned, wondering what kind of flowers they were. She could’ve sworn she saw Claudette grimace as well.

Yui.. Yui brought a shiny coin. (Y/n) remembered her smug smile as she cooly flipped the coin into the campfire.

She probably regrets burning it though, (Y/n) assumes. While Yui worked hard on a generator, (Y/n) was busy searching chests right in front of her face.

Yeah.. Moving on.

(Y/n) didn’t bring anything special: It was a square pouch filled with an aromatic smell and a few flowers. Nothing that altered the trial, but it made her feel more bold. Maybe it’s why she didn’t feel terrified when the Huntress chased her.

Speaking of..

As for the bunny Killer.. Yeah. Yeah, there was an offering. Bones from an animal, put neatly together in an artistic, morbid style. Just like (Y/n) and Jake’s offering, it was nothing that altered the trial. It wasn’t a Mori. If the Killer brought nothing, it was either a Mori or they just didn’t bring anything.

So what gives? How did she die?

It’s not like she doesn’t remember dying, it was just how.

Amongst the campers, there are three types of people: Ones who don’t remember dying at all, like Kate, Ace, David, and Feng Min. They are convinced that they always escape, yet when they do remember their death, their minds aren’t strong enough to handle the memories.

Thus, going crazy.

If they died, they don’t remember the trial at all. It was as if they’ve never been called to one. They are living in this blissful fantasy in their mind, that they’ve always outrun death and continue to live forever in this hell.

Eventually, it became taboo to tell them about their deaths.

Next, were those who in fact: Knows if they died and how they died, like Dwight, Meg, Claudette, and Jake. They were the strongest people around here and the most knowledgeable, with Dwight being the leader amongst all the campers. If you’re in a trial with him, what he says, goes. He was bossy, despite the nervous demeanor, but meant well.

Anyway, the quartet were also the first four to arrive here. It was Dwight at first, then Meg, then Jake, then Claudette. Nea was also one who remembered her death, but didn’t like to talk about it at all. Understandably so, no one pushed her on that.

And lastly, were those who know they’ve died, but not the events leading up to their death nor their death in general. Like Zarina, Jeff, Adam, and (Y/n).

They remember the trial. They remember being IN the trial, but simply weren’t plagued with the trauma of their death.

Why?

(Y/n) doesn’t know. She accepted death long ago, but felt frustrated that she apparently didn’t have the strength to handle the memory of her very own death.

However, that was only partially the problem here. The real question is: Who killed her? If the Killer herself, the one who’s SUPPOSED to kill them all, didn’t then who?

She started to connect the dots: Pre-Trial, no Mori offerings.

She’d only been hooked once and was saved before the Entity had time to even physically form halfway, then try and claim it’s prize.

After Claudette patched her up all nice and well, she went go bother Yui with chest looting.

After getting a map and giving the heavy Med-Kit to Yui, (Y/n) went to go follow the instructions on that one weird map.

She met up with Jake, who did a half-hearted attempt to convince her to escape. (Y/n) told him to go away. He did. Then, she dug into the moist dirt, deep enough to dig a hole.

And.. that’s it! The Killer didn’t find her. She didn’t get hooked a second time. If she did, and died that trial, her last memory would stop after she’s been injured enough to not get up by herself. She remembers this with so many other trials.

So no Mori. No second hook. She should also point out: Only two generators had been done by the time her memory stopped. Or when she died, so she wasn’t around when the world started to dissipate.

Yet, she died.

The only other option, sadly, would be if she was killed by a teammate.

Actually, that didn’t sound so far-fetched at all.

Because of her selfish nature, (Y/n) was hated amongst the campers.

Except maybe Claudette.

Still, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if one of them had enough and finally took matters into their own hands.

She had three people to accuse of this: Jake, Yui, and Claudette.

But (Y/n)’s mind and heart immediately ruled out Claudette. The woman was practically stressing to death, caring too much about (Y/n)’s and other’s well being. Claudette looked and seemed as though she wouldn’t dare hurt a leaf for no reason.

Which she in fact, wouldn’t.

What about Jake?

. . .

Couldn’t be. (Y/n) had only seen Jake twice in that trial, once when she had gone to pull him from the hook. Only for him the pull himself off, thanks to the jar Claudette brought.

The second time was the weird talk they had, but he left her alone afterwards.

So then.. Yui? They had a little tussle before (Y/n) left. Yui was calling herall these names, crying, frustrated that (Y/n) refused to help her. Yui was known to be headstrong and aggressive, but not to the point where she’d physically hurt anyone, it was usually when she meant well.

(Y/n) wanted to rule out Yui. She really did. But logic states that it isn’t wise, that it makes the most sense that it would be Yui.

. . .

But, it just.. couldn’t be. Yui yells at people, yes, but she just doesn’t seem like the type to kill anyone.

Neither did Jake. Hell, Jake was a soft, nature boy. If he didn’t have the heart to bother the crows that snitched on everyone (except him) to the Killers, then he didn’t have the heart to hurt a human being who didn’t bother him.

. . .

(Y/n) felt as though she was overreacting.

Maybe she accidentally killed herself. She was going beyond the trial grounds after all.

Maybe the Entity punished her for thinking like she does. For doing this. Trying to find an escape while breaking the rules of it’s sick little game.

But then, why did the map take her there, if it wasn’t the Entity’s intention? Isn’t everything in this realm created by that demonic god?

. . .

(Y/n) was still going to be cautious, but she wasn’t going to point fingers at anyone, especially if this malevolent god had possibly something to do with it.

No, she’d blame it first, rather than any of it’s victims.

But, she wasn’t going to trust anyone.

With that, she laid down in her tent and fell asleep whilst deep in thought.


	2. Getting Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/n) learns more about about the three people closest to her. 
> 
> Even if they weren’t close.
> 
> She also picks up on some new habits.

_** Claudette ** _

“Come here.”

Claudette’s head gestures (Y/n) to her tent, dreadlocks flicking.

“Come in.”

“W-why?”

“Becaause, I said so.”

“Can you please tell me-

“(Y/n) just.. my goodness, get. In.

(Y/n) hesitated. Her eyebrows furrowed upwards in thought, though she’d reckon Claudette wouldn’t give her the time to even think.

So. She got on her hands and knees, then crawled inside of Claudette’s tent. The dark-skinned woman followed after, zipping up the tent to shut out some noise.

(Y/n) felt stiff, her body on the verge of shivering. She’d never been.. this close.

Fuck, not this “close”. She’d never been inside someone else’s tent before. It was like being invited to a friend’s home, a home she’s never been to before and have a little slumber party or something.

But this was entirely different. _Entirely_ .

After Claudette had settled down all nice and comfy, she reached up to adjust the tie around her long dreadlocks, then rested her arms with a clear of her throat.

Silence.

“God, you look tense.. I’m not gonna hurt you, alright? Calm down.”

“I-it’s not that.”

Claudette, confused, rose an eyebrow. Silent. Letting (Y/n) continue with her words.

Ohh.. (Y/n) isn’t used to this either, is she?

“I’ve never been invited to someone else’s tent. It’s childish, I know but-“

“The only person childish here is Feng, but we can’t blame her for being that way, now can we?”

“... Well-“

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m talking trash about her.. We need something pure and wholesome around here.”

Silence.

“Talk to me, (Y/n).”

_Okay_.

“Why do you want me here?”

“Because you were and still are tense. You also moved your tent far away from us, and you’ve been avoiding everyone during the games.”

The flickering sound of the campfire eased it’s way into the tent.

“T-Talk to me, (Y/n). Please.” Claudette’s voice strained.

(Y/n) gulped. Heart racing. How was she supposed to make this claim believable?

“I’m just, tired. Tired of the Killers and tired of hearing.. hearing  _them_ .”

It was a lie. A believable one. And Claudette knew who she was talking about.

“It’s just gossip (Y/n), nothing else.”

Silence comes again.

“Come. Lay down.” Claudette quickly patted a spot next to her.

“W-wha?”

“Lay down. Lemme show you something.”

(Y/n) releases a shaky breath, then lies down awkwardly. She tried her best to stop trembling, but with little to no avail. It didn’t help that Claudette moved and lies closely down next to her. 

What was she doing?

“(Y/n). Relax, alright? Come here, c’mere.”

No. Stop. Don’t do this.

(Y/n) was pulled closer. With Claudette above her and her face against the dark-skinned woman’s belly. Being hugged against Claudette who held her with such gentleness. Gentleness and delicate, unlike the what (Y/n) is used to. 

No. Stop. Don’t. Just ignore her, just ignore her. Don’t move. Get out. Right now.

“Hey, hey. Don’t cry, I’m right here.”

What? She was crying?

(Y/n) blinked three times and sure enough, tears rolled down her face. What was happening? She was crying, shaking, drawing a shuddering breath with each exhale. 

Go. Ignore her. Ignore her. Go. Get out and-

...

A simple scratch to (Y/n)’s scalp and she stopped everything. The thoughts, the crying, the shaking. 

Her body relaxed.

Her breathing started to even out.

Her arms embraced Claudette. Arms wrapping around the small woman’s waist. (Y/n) closed her eyes and breathed. The tinge of blood, anti-septic chemicals, and roses filled her senses.

It was strangely comforting.

With a content moan, (Y/n) couldn’t recall ever falling asleep. Falling asleep while actually holding someone.

Dammit. Whatever happened to not trusting anyone?

**_ Yui  _ **

“So, you finally come to your senses?” Yui spoke with a heavy accent, voice muffled by the bandanna mask.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re working on a generator with me.”

The dark-haired woman said almost elegantly, leaning against the rumbling machine. “Well. You’re the only one working on it now. How does it feel?”

“It feels new. Again.”

“Should’ve never stopped. I’m  glad  Claudette finally got through you. Seriously, I was starting to think you were taking advantage of her.”

(Y/n) stopped, fingers off the red and green wires.

“.. Got through me?”

Yui raised a finger. Ah, ah, ahh. “Work on the generator.”

(Y/n) stares at Yui for a beat, then got back to work. Eyebrows furrowed in dismay.

Yui spoke again.

“So, (Y/n), what did she tell you?”

“I’m not telling.”

“Hm.. What else did I expect?”

“I don’t know Yui, what _did_ you expect?” (Y/n) stopped again and stood up.

“Look, if you’re going to keep your mouth shut, then I will too!” Yui hissed, taking a defensive stance.

“What did you try to get Claudette to do? As far as I’m concerned, she’s done everything from her heart.”

“No duh, fuck-wit. How long did it take you to see that? Look, if you think I tried to get her to control you or something, then you’re more stupid than Ace.”

Another beat of silence. Comically so, as tumbleweed bounced across the land of the Saloon.

“Work on the goddamn generator!”

Fine.

. . .

Within 20 seconds, the generator was done. (Y/n) looked at the grease on her hands as she stood up, rubbing the bothersome substance on her pants.

“Too pretty to have grease on your hands? Get used to it. Come on, you got another middle generator to do.”

Yui pushes herself off the machine and pointed to the generator perched on top of a wooden platform. Around it, decayed corpses hung from nooses. They’ve been there for so long, it was surprising the heads didn’t detach themselves from the rest of the body.

“I’m not going with you.”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

“I’m not going with you.”

(Y/n) turned around to go and look for the basement of the sunny land, when a small, but strong hand stopped her. Pink painted fingernails glittering in the sunset.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? You think one generator is enough? Or are you scared of those bodies up there?”

“Neither, Yui. I’m sorry, but please let go of me.”

“Sorry? You’re sorry!? I’m-“ Yui paused. Exhaling while rubbing her eyes.

The tears were coming again.

“So what, you’ve never changed? Was everything Claudette did for nothing? Is that how you see us, (Y/n)? We’re nothing to you?”

Alright. Alright, (Y/n) already had enough. She needed the racer to go away, now.

“Yes, Yui.”

. . .

A pause in the wind. 

(Y/n) could practically bathe in Yui’s anger.

“Fuck you!” She no longer hissed, she yelled, almost screamed. Tears flowing down her eyes.

(Y/n) tried to keep a straight face, as she felt her heart began to beat. 

“Fuck. You! Okay!? If you want me dead so much then do it! Just kill me!”

(Y/n)’s heart beats harder.

That was not good.

“Yui, stop. I-I didn’t mean it, plea-“

“NO! No, fuck off with that! Here!”

“Yui, we have to lea-!”

From the toolbox she held, Yui threw a wrench at (Y/n)’s belly.

“Do it!!” She hiccuped.

(Y/n)’s heart beat hammered this time.

“Do it you bitch! Kill m-!” 

A loud, ear shattering sound of a gun being fired froze both women. Another cry of Yui’s scream being heard after.

A spear stood in Yui’s chest, blood immediately pooling around it as she’s being reeled in. The perpetrator behind them was none other than the Deathslinger. Pin-prickled, white eyes glowed in the shadow of his hat, staring at the women. He laughed raggedly and horribly while pulling Yui in.

“NO!” Yui screamed, sadness replaced by an intense fear in her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to pull herself free.

Despite not actively paying attention to the warning of her heartbeat, (Y/n) acted quickly. The chain between Yui and the reanimated cowboy was long. It was enough for her to jump in and interrupt the chain. 

The chain. Oh god the metal, it burned like hell through her soul, but she didn’t dare move away.

Trying to silence her own cries of pain, (Y/n) hugged Yui tightly, being mindful of the spear in the struggling woman’s chest. She placed her feet firmly on ground, giving the Deathslinger more of a hard time to reel Yui in.

Eventually. The chain broke in success.

The Deathslinger groaned as he was left stunned in disappointment, giving Yui and (Y/n) time to run away.

Heart still beating and Yui still crying, (Y/n) ducked and made the injured woman crouch behind a large rock. Getting her to safety as quick as she can, with the boulder being big enough to conceal both women. (Y/n) placed a hand over Yui’s lips, despite her lips being covered by the pink and black mask.

The more silence, the better.

The Deathslinger, still angry judging by his heavy breathing, stomped and tried to follow the blood trail, but stopped at dark patches of grass and bushes. He wasn’t far away from the women, hell he could even hear Yui’s silent cries of pain. Every time he neared them, they wormed further away from him when he wasn’t looking.

Eight seconds passed and two generators were powered up. Two more to go.

He was wasting precious time trying to find her. The Entity will be displeased with him, if he didn’t get a move on now.

Realizing this, the monster walked away. Gun reloaded and ready shoot the first thing that moves. He was pissed, no doubt.

Good.

(Y/n) looked to Yui, who was struggling to keep her eyes open.

Shit. The wound.

“Y-Yui, you have to move. Now.”

Holding Yui up by draping an arm around her shoulder, (Y/n) dragged Yui down to the nearby basement by the Saloon. Seeing as the woman struggled to do what she wanted, but it was enough.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry..”

(Y/n) chanted, bringing Yui pass the meat hooks and to the wooden wall of the basement. She could hear the otherworldly noises and the occasional clicks beyond the wall. And as much as she wanted to tear them down and see what’s behind it, Yui was top priority.

“Hold still.”

(Y/n) tore off her sleeve and began to patch her up with shaking hands, the adrenaline of being caught by the Killer still flowed throughout her veins. 

She focused on mending Yui. It took about eight to ten seconds and a few more torn fabric before the heavy bleeding finally stopped. 

Clad in her bra, (Y/n) began to tear off the bottom of the left leg of her pants, before she felt Yui’s hand on hers.

“S-stop. That’s enough.”

And stopped she did.

“That bastard is off his game today.” She chuckled with a broken voice. “The other generators will be done in no time. I’ll be fine.”

“How can you be so sure of that..? We made him angry, you saw that.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Let’s just slack off like you always do.”

(Y/n) didn’t reply. Even though she didn’t want to trust Yui, she decided that it would be better to shut-up.

Yui’s rapid breathing began to slow down. Then, her smiling face shifted to a saddened one.

“I’ll be fine. Right? If only I just shut up... Tell me that I’ll be fine, (Y/n). Tell me.”

(Y/n) blinked. She wasn’t expecting that.

“You’ll be fine, I’ll make sure of it. Okay?”

“Okay.. Yeah. Okay!”

Yui shivered. 

On instinct, (Y/n) moved in for a hug. 

What was she doing? Hugging the person who hated her most?

“Never took you for the hugging type. A-although, you are a pussy.”

“Oh please.. I have one.”

Yui coughed up blood, a consequence for trying to laugh.

“O-o-oh god I haven’t heard that basic comeback in a-a while. Are you living u-under a rock!?”

No, I’m living in the Entity’s realm.

“You could say that.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re such a dork.”

“I know, Yui. I know.”

Yui rested her head on (Y/n)’s chest. Closing her eyes with a tired smile, waiting until the generators are done.

**_ Jake _ **

“There’s nothing on the other side.” Jake said flatly.

“You don’t know that.” (Y/n) said in a hushed tone.

“No. But, I am willing to bet.”

(Y/n) turned around to face Jake. “Bet what..?”

He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. “I don’t mean a literal bet, but if you insist then-“

He paused, brown eyes leaning towards the toolbox in (Y/n)’s hand. The one labeled “Alex”.

“If you don’t find anything on the other side, then you owe me that.”

“What? This toolbox..?” (Y/n) said in quiet disbelief, clutching the toolbox close. “Wha- No. I’m sorry Jake, but it took me forever to find this.”

“Shame. I guess I won’t help you then.”

Quiet. No sound, other than the flurry of snow outside of the Institution.

“Y-you’re not making any sense. I’ve never asked you for help.” (Y/n) places the toolbox down beside her, looking to Jake in utter disbelief now. 

Was he messing with her?

“You clearly need it.”

“How..?”

“You’re too short to climb over that fence.” Jake, ever so blunt, walked over to lean against the large, stone fence. The snow crushing beneath his boots in a satisfying crunch.

(Y/n) was taken back, to put it simply. How dare he-

“I-I’m not short, Jake. I’m only about a foot shorter than you, if that..”

“A foot shorter than me if that.. too short. Look, I’m not trying to make fun of you or anything-“

The tanned-skinned man paused at the face (Y/n) gave. Eyes hooded and expression telling him, that she absolutely did not believe a single word that came out of his mouth.

And she’d be right to do so.

“Okay. I am, but that’s not the point. I’m not even tall enough to jump over that wall. Climb, maybe.“

“Then I can climb.”

“We both know damn well you’re not strong enough, (Y/n).” He countered languidly.

(Y/n) sighed audibly.

“Why are you trying to shoot down everything I say..?”

He shrugged, a thick eyebrow being raised in thought.

“Because you always end up getting yourself killed, especially because of these little shenanigans of yours.” 

“It’s worth it.”

“You’re suicidal.”

“Why are you here then, Jake?”

She hoped he wasn’t here to bother her out of boredom.

“To help you.”

Oh?

“This.. this isn’t helping me.”

The Asian man pursed his lips into a smirk. “So you do want my help?” 

“I didn’t say that!” She hissed.

“You don’t have to (Y/n), I can see it.”

She tried not to say anything in defense. Instead, she actually tried to assess the situation she’s currently in.

It was dark and snowy. She and Jake were outside of the institution and near a powered down exit gate. A specific area where the crazed Doctor almost never roamed to find Survivors. 

And.. yes. The wall is too large for her to climb. She’s considered digging, but this place didn’t have the same, mushy soil as the Red Forest did. The soil was hard and icy.

So yes.. she in fact did need Jake’s help.

And as if reading her again, Jake had a triumphant look in his eyes as he spoke: “You get it, now?” He said in a patronizing tone, stepping closer.

Was she THAT easy to read?

(Y/n) just caved in, out of energy to even argue.

“Yes.. Come on.”

She turned around to face the wall and waited for him to lift her up.

. . .

Only.. for him to not do that.

(Y/n) turned to look at Jake over her shoulder, confusion written all over her face.

“Jake..?”

The stoic man only responded with another small grin, head titled slightly with a tiny glint in his eyes.

. . . 

(Y/n) sighed.

“What do you need me to do, Jake..?”

“I’m just waiting for you to ask me, of course.”

This.. prick!

(Y/n) felt her face heat up as she whined, but complied.

“Could you please help me up, Jake?”

“Please? So formal.”

She whined again and didn’t say anything. She just wanted to get this over with and wallow in the embarrassment later.

When Jake apparently decided that he had enough of his fun, he finally ducked under. With firm, strong and gloved hands placed on (Y/n)’s thighs, shoulders pressed against the back of her legs, and head between her legs-

Ah.. yes.

Jake hefted (Y/n) up on his shoulders. Waiting for the embarrassed woman to become settled and balanced, then stepped closer to the wall.

“Easy there.” He started.

With a soft grunt, (Y/n) reached up to grab the edge of the wall. Lifting herself up.

“I-I got it!”

“Good. Now go.” Jake said in a quiet voice.

Their hearts started beating.

“Wait! What about yo-“ (Y/n) yelped. 

Feeling Jake’s hands squeeze her thighs, she was suddenly pushed over the wall. Unprepared, she landed on her back with the air being forced out of her lungs. Snow covering her clothes and face. (Y/n) needed about, two seconds to recover. In those two seconds, she heard many things.

A generator being powered up, all thanks to Nea and Adam. 

Her heart beat.

Heavy breathing from the Doctor.

The sizzling sound of electricity growing louder, theeen boom!

Several people screamed, (Y/n) included, followed by the laughter of the Doctor. Just because she was no longer within the trial grounds it doesn’t mean she’s necessarily safe, she noted.

The only one who didn’t scream was Jake, all thanks to his ability to control himself. 

Oh.. oh no.

She screamed and Jake was near, that meant-

Her heart beat grew louder and louder. (Y/n) shook in panic as she could only hear the snow crunching rapidly under two pairs of shoes.

A swoop, followed by the sound of metal piercing and beating human flesh. 

The wet sound of blood being released and splattered.

Then more crunching, of which quickly started to fade away into the flurry of snow.

(Y/n) sat. Eyes wide and horrified.

Did she just get Jake killed? 

Why did she immediately think of Yui upon thinking that..?

. . .

She couldn’t sit here. Jake gotten hurt because she wanted to get over the wall and now she’s wasting time.

With a shaky breath, (Y/n) stood up with a jolt in her arm. Another in her leg. 

Damn Herman Carter.

Once she stood up, (Y/n) looked around to observe her surroundings. 

. . .

It was a large field of snow. The dark sky was adorned with even more falling flurries and the interesting part? No trees whatsoever. Hell, (Y/n) was starting to believe that there was no dirt under the snow.

The cherry on top would be that she wasn’t even cold. 

Just what is this..? Nothing, like Jake said?

She didn’t want him to die, but she did want him to be wrong.

(Y/n) began to walk further away from the institute. Looking around for any clues or a lead or.. something! 

. . .

How long has it been? Has it been an hour? It sure felt like it, but the world hasn’t started to disappear yet. Not much time has passed.

But it sure didn’t feel that way. 

(Y/n) continued to walk. Determined to find anything. Something. All of her efforts could not have been in vain. 

Those deaths and the troubles she caused, because she wanted an answer other than open gates and generators. 

It can’t be in vain over nothing. 

She wouldn’t let it.

No..

(Y/n) gasped as her the tip of her shoe slammed against something almost stone-like, causing her to stumble, fall, and catch herself with her hands.

What?

After collecting herself, she began to inspect the area, actively ignoring the growing pain in her foot. 

Stone?

She quickly started to brush the snow off of it. Maybe it was a normal stone, buried mercilessly under the snow. Maybe the rock contained some hidden text that was etched in there or something mystical like that.

She wouldn’t put it behind this place.

However, as soon as she began to see the stone, (Y/n) learned that it wasn’t any kind of mineral at all. It was made of some thick leather.

Once she uncovered her prize, the woman saw that it was a book. A big one, sealed shut by a lock and chain, like a sweet little diary. Erm.. big in this case.

Did someone lose this? 

Picking up the rather heavy book with both hands, (Y/n) held it close to her chest with a cheeky smile on her face. She found something! Hopefully something with clues on how to get out of here.

Now.. 

If she could just figure out how to get back to the trial-

“(Y/n)?”

She whipped around to the voice behind her. A bit scared, she didn’t expect to find someone else here. But, those feelings of surprise quickly faded once she realized who the speaker is.

Jake. There was no mistaking that messy hair.

“Jake!” (Y/n) started a little bit too enthusiastically for her comfort, but she ignored it.

“How did you get here? Are you okay, Jake? I screamed and I heard the Doctor come and-“

“M’fine, I’m fine. It’s not your fault.” Jake replies with a lazy smile, despite limping towards (Y/n) before stopping. 

She always found it amazing how he could make almost no sound whatsoever. 

“You’re hurt..”

“What’s that in your arms, (Y/n)?”

She gave him that one look again. “Suure, I’ll tell you. Only if you let me check your wounds.”

Jake clicked his tongue.

“It’s nothin’.”

“If you’re bleeding and limping Jake, it’s something.”

“You’ve been around Claudette too much.”

_Stop ignoring it._

“Yes, I have. Now come here.”

(Y/n) sets the book down, gesturing Jake to her.

With a chuckle to himself, Jake obeys. Kneeling in front of (Y/n) and removing his scarf. His gloves and waterproof jacket came after that, then the blue, turtleneck shirt underneath.

Wait, was it even blue? It looked more like a toothpaste color to (Y/n).

Where was this man’s sense of style?

Well.. she quickly supposed that he wouldn’t need one. She heard rumors about him ditching civilization to go feral in the woods an-

“How long are you gonna sit there and stare?”

(Y/n) blinked, coming face-to-face with a now shirtless Jake, who didn’t smile, but had an amusing glint in his eyes. 

Oh. Oh no, he wasn’t thinking that she was eyeing him, was he?

Just ignore it, just ignore it.

“R-right. Sorry..” (Y/n) mumbled, tearing off her entire sleeve before inspecting to Jake’s wounds on his torso. Thankfully, they weren’t too deep.

“Sorry, for what?” Jake asked, not exactly in a question, but as if he wanted to toy with her again.

She played along, if it would get him to stop teasing her soon.

“.. I’m sorry for staring at you.” She stretched and wrapped the sleeve around his wound. Ripping off her other sleeve to secure another. 

Jake hummed in approval. “Why were you staring at me?”

“It’s not for the reasons you think, okay?” (Y/n) felt her face heat up again. She was not used to this at all. Whatever happened to him not talking to her?

Whatever happened to her not talking to him? He was one of the suspects in her death.

Shit.. she was starting to forget about that.

“Sure, we’ll go with that.” Jake responded, seemingly relaxed and overly comfortable, despite the situation that they were in.

“You don’t believe me..?”

“Nope.”

Fair enough.

After rubbing the fabric where the wound stopped bleeding under, (Y/n) took off her sleeveless shirt and moved to inspect Jake’s back.

The woodsman took this perfect opportunity to snatch up the book in front of him.

“H-hold still!”

“I wanna read.”

What? Oh..

“Oh. Well. Unless you can find a way to open the book, then you can’t read i-“ 

Click. Jingle. Snap.

The chain slid down as the lock was broken.

(Y/n), once again, stood still in disbelief. “Wha..? How did y-“

“Are you honestly surprised?” Jake mused, opening the cover of the book.

Yeah.. yeah, he’s right. He is a saboteur after all.

“Read it to me.” (Y/n) said casually, continuing to focus on finishing patching him up.

“What happened to saying please?”

Silence, other than the sound of fabric being forcibly stretched.

He turned a page.

“Jake..” She started, but couldn’t say any more than that, especially after he gave her time to say more.

“Use your words, (Y/n).”

“I’m not a child.” She mumbled.

“No, you’re not. You’re a woman who can be polite, I’ve seen you do it. A lot. Use your words.” He said as a matter-of-factly, turning another page.

He really has the nerve to- Whatever.

“Read the book to me, Jake. Please.” She said in a quiet tone.

Jake hummed again. “Not bad, could use some work.”

“What?”

“Vigo.”

“I-I’m sorry..?”

“I’m reading the book (Y/n), just like you asked so nicely.” 

Him and his teasing..

(Y/n) stayed silent, allowing Jake to start reading again.

When she finished helping him with his injuries, she simply read the book alongside him in the snow. They both delved deep into it. Learning about how the black lock, known as hatch by some campers, was created by this man named Vigo.

Up until now, they believed everything that existed here was created by the Entity. To find out that such things were created by a human in hopes of Survivors escaping, sparked a different kind of hope in their heart. Even those creepy, jar of salty lips were created by Vigo, told to bring lots of good luck.

Claudette wasn’t crazy about it after all.

They learned about how the fog can be shaped into anything, but also risked being thrown into this place called the Void, should they manage to manipulate it.

The Void, where lost, soulless victims resided after the Entity drained them of life. Both survivors and killers alike.

And, as if it was just good news after bad news, they found out about a serum they can use to escape the Void. A blight serum, more specifically, that they can work to obtain during one month per year.

(Y/n) began to wonder if that very same serum is the key out of this realm. This book told her so much new information, it was honestly a lot to take in. But, she can handle it.

Her (e/c) eyes stared at the book in thought, oblivious to Jake, who was looking at her in sheer wonder.


	3. Forgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/n) has an unforgettable moment of sadness.

**_ Karma? _ **

“I’m almost there..” 

(Y/n)’s hoarse and strained voice breathed out into the polluted air. She struggled to lift a bloody leg and lower herself further down the creaking, wooden steps of the basement.

Every pained limb trembled in protest, screaming at her to stop, but she was determined.

So close..

This trial went oh so horribly wrong.

(Y/n) should’ve known it would. When the time came for offerings for the Entity to be burnt, guess what Killer brought?

“Nothing.”

And that “nothing”, turned out to be a Mori. This Killer didn’t care about feeding the it’s Master, he only wanted to satiate a sick hunger for blood and meat, all for himself.

The Oni is currently today’s unwanted guest. Like many Killers, he was ruthless and merciless in his assaults, but unlike most he often left a blood bath in his wake. His Mori was even worse, as not only he stabbed his victims, but he’ll rip off their tongue as well. Leaving his victims bludgeoned to death with his overwhelming strength and Kanabo.

Two people had already fallen to the Oni’s wrath, a German man named Felix and a Southern woman named Kate.

Being killed by the hands of the Killer isn’t like being sacrificed, of course. Sure, with being sacrificed you lost a tiny piece of your soul. But, if you were murdered by the monster themselves, you still could feel the pain post trial. Some of them were light thankfully, like the Trapper and the Wraith. Others tend to get.. creative. Sometimes downright humiliating.

Kate and Felix unfortunately got the creative one. Neither of them deserved that. They worked hard to survive this trial, yet, when paired with two selfish Survivors, it was inevitable, (Y/n) thought. Making a comeback is hopeless and out of the question, as only two generators are repaired.

The last Survivor in this trial with her is Feng Min. A pale young woman who, (Y/n) realized, is kind of the opposite of (Y/n). She would much rather save people than go and repair a generator, whereas Feng Min would much rather repair a generator than go and save people.

One might think that will balance them out into a great pair, and they would be right to think so but.. maybe. (Y/n) and Min were still not the ideal teammates to have. The woman smiled bitterly.

. . . 

(Y/n) realized she was standing in front of a wall. A wooden wall that contained something bright, otherworldly, and.. terrifying. The ominous sounds of an unholy creature roaring and the occasional clicks made (Y/n) second guess her decision.

Because damn, it was crazy for anyone to be tampering with this wall, knowing that something demonic was being contained. 

But, she had to know. She needed to know, at least before she died at the hands of a livid Samurai. The woman also needed to hurry, the blood oozing and shaping itself into orbs about the size of her head will eventually draw the demented Killer to her.

“Okay.”

(Y/n) grabbed at a large, loose piece of wood and tugged. Hard. The woman tugged with all of her might, mentally cursing at herself for neglecting exercise in the life before this one.

Then again.. she can lift someone like Jeff or David from a hook. 

. . .

Wait..

Is strength also fabricated here? More importantly: Why the hell didn’t she think of this, or bring it up when Jake implied that she was weak? Yeah that would’ve shut him up.

Before she could re-imagine the whole argument in her mind, the huge plank she was tugging at finally ripped itself from the wall. Flying nails and splinters shot everywhere, but none of them touched (Y/n), despite the woman squeezing her eyes shut on instinct.

She stumbled backwards, accidentally putting pressure on her bad leg before landing on her bottom. Collecting herself, (Y/n) looked towards the glowing, glaring orange hole in the wall. The roars and the clicking becoming noticeably more prominent. 

She was scared. There is no doubting that, but she stood up. Grabbing at another plank.

However, as soon as she began to pull, a large and sharp, black claw quickly emerged from the hole in the wall and snapped itself into the wood. Nearly slicing off (Y/n)’s hand, if she hadn’t reacted on time with a gasp. 

More claws appeared and slammed themselves in the wall, making it look as though giant spiders were trying to set itself free. The legs began to shake as more surrounded the basement around (Y/n), the corners, the edges, the roof. The dry roaring became loud as well, shaking the room. It was like the Entity finally had enough of her prying and decided to do something about that.

Alright. 

Alright (Y/n) was beyond terrified, she didn’t know where to go for safety. If she stayed here, the Entity would probably claim her and god knows what’ll happen next. She didn’t want to get thrown in the Void so soon. If she left though, she would get painfully murdered by the Oni because her own blood gave her away. 

. . .

And as if on cue, she heard the stomping and the movement of armor above.

Well.. looks like she wouldn’t have to choose.

(Y/n) fought to turn around and not look at basement right now, instead, facing the red demon before her in an acceptance of death and defeat. She got what she wanted, saw what she needed to see, and she’ll explore more of the basement in another trial. Not this one.

The Oni breathed under his mask powerfully, if that was even possible. But, he didn’t move? He just.. stared.

(Y/n) soon learned why. Behind him, a bloodied and bruised Feng Min limped into the scene, eyes immediately filled with a kind of fear that (Y/n) never saw in the gamer girl before. She knew Min wanted to know what the hell was going on in the basement, the trembling spider claws and all.

However, once she seemingly came to her senses, heavy guilt replaced her features as she pointed at (Y/n).

“There..” Min said weakly.

. . .

What?

“S-she’s right there.”

**WHAT?**

The gamer said quickly. “I found her s-so.. S-so put me on the hook instead, don’t kill me, please..!” 

“FENG!?”

“I’m sorry!!”

(Y/n), for the first time in years, felt completely saddened and enraged. Her vision blurred with tears and her ears rung, deafening the stomps of the Oni coming her way. She was too shocked, too focused on Min to hear the clean sound of a blade being sliced into her flesh. Lacerating her from shoulder to stomach.

She came back to her own senses, struggling to stand. Coming in contact with some of her blood orbs before collapsing on the floor. 

The last thing (Y/n) could pick up with her senses is hearing Min sobbing, mumbling something over and over in a different language.

. . .

**_ Guilt _ **

“.... nna be okay?” Said a high-pitched, female voice.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. It’s not like we stay dead forever, y’know.” Said a soft-spoken, but rough voice (Y/n) recognized so well.

“Can I stay..? Let me stay.”

“You ask and then you demand..? Alright, sure.”

The voices became so much more clear with each passing second. (Y/n) stirred, awake, but not wanting to get up nor make herself known due to several reasons. 

The pain. Sore due to injuries that were no longer there. She felt a strong headache coming on and her head itself felt heavy. Her mouth and throat felt like she tried to eat, savor, and swallow a bunch of sharp pins and needles, it throbbed in pain so bad. Lastly, a specific spot in her chest burned. Nowhere else, just that one spot. 

Her memories recalled the time she was practically handed over like dinner on a plate to the Killer. (Y/n) felt like she should be angry, but couldn’t bring herself to fell that way.

Why? She was betrayed by her own teammate, where’d the anger go?

Perhaps..

(Y/n) whined quietly in pain. She wanted it to go away like no-

“You’re awake!” Said the female voice.

(Y/n) only responded by lifting a hand and waving at the mysterious girl. Too tired to do anything else.

“(Y/n) it’s me, Feng Min..”

. . .

(Y/n) gathered the strength to turn her head and look at the woman, realizing that she was in a tent. Not her own though. She knew she looked silly, blanket over herself and cheek pressed against a pillow, but she still gave Min a look. 

“.. Is there.. something I should know?” Said the man, immediately noticing the tension in the air.

(Y/n) moved a little more to look at the man named Jake. She struggled to speak, due to the pain.

“N-n-no.”

“Yes.” Said Feng Min.

“No l-look, it’s.. it’s fine, Feng. You were terrif..fied, I.. I understand.” (Y/n) tried to reason. Wondering where the anger she felt during the trial went.

“That doesn’t mean anything! I-..” Deep breath. “I still shouldn’t have done it.”

Jake spoke again. “Done what?”

“I gave her to the-“

“No!” (Y/n) shot up, but immediately tensed in pain. Jake moved, hand on her shoulder in case she fell.

“Easy no-“

“I gave her away to the Killer!”

What the.. she didn’t want Feng to involve anyone else in. What if it causes a fight then-

“I’m sorry, (Y/n).”

“I-I told you Min, it’s fine. You see-“ (Y/n) paused to gather her thoughts, seeing as Jake was comically trying to do the same. The woman tried to ignore the pain, as she spoke. 

“Feng, I-I should’ve helped you. Yes, going against a-a Killer whose inten..tions are to kill us as soon as possible is.. tough. But, you’re so ef..ficient at getting the team out, I shouldn’t have gave up s-so early. Maybe we would’ve got out, had I-I not been so stu..pid.. I’m sorry.”

Ugh.. That’s probably the most (Y/n) has ever said since being trapped here. And.. it felt good.

Feng was quiet, understandably so as she had to soak in (Y/n)’s words. They were both at fault with screwing each other over, she understood. And from the looks of it, they weren’t going to convince either woman otherwise.

So with that in mind. Min actually smiled, playfully so.

“We’re both dummies.. hah!”

(Y/n), finding the sudden cheerfulness contagious, smiled as well. “Yeah. We’re m..made for each other.” The woman lies back down.

Feng giggles and nodded, having a smug grin on her face as she began to exit the tent. “Go to sleep, (Y/n). Oh, and don’t let that dirty hobo over there get all handsy with you, okay? Byeee!” Feng left quickly, before Jake even had the time to register what she said.

“Immature, damn..”

(Y/n) got comfortable, becoming great at ignoring the pain all together.

“Oh, leave her alone. Y-you’re not so different from her, you know.”

Jake feigned being offended. He knew exactly what she’s talking about. “What? Still mad because of last time?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” He poked the side of (Y/n)’s cheek, which in turn made the woman hide her face in the pillow.

“Sho meen.”

“What?”

“You’re sho meen..!”

Jake started to chuckle. “I’m sorry, I’m what? Get your head out of the pillow and actually talk to me.”

“Noh.”

He understood that one.

“Fine then.” (Y/n) heard the shuffling of fabric, then some paper being tampered with. “I really wanted to read to you, but I think you hate me now.” His voice held a fake, melancholic tone to it.

And somehow, for SOME reason, it worked.

(Y/n) moved her head, worry painted on her features. “I-I don’t hate you!”

Jake looked over to (Y/n) with one of his lazy smiles. His brown eyes were unreadable, hand pressed against the side of his face as his elbow rested on his leg, the book they found outside of the Institute open on his lap. “I’m just messin’.” He said with laughter laced in his tone. “M’glad I can see your face, though.”

(Y/n) blinked in slight confusion. What’s that supposed to mean?

She didn’t have time to think about it however, when Jake lies down beside her on his stomach and places the book down for them to read. He pulls the blanket over their heads, but not their eyes.

(Y/n) tried not to shiver again. Hadn’t she gotten used to something like this with Claudette before? Why was this any differ-

“You’re cold? Want me to grab another blanket?” Jake nearly deadpanned, making it hard to tell if he was actually worried or not. 

Too close. Too close. Too close. Too-

“N-no.” She found herself saying, finally forcing herself to look at the man. His features. The messy hair framing his face and the small bags under his eyes, the wrinkles on his forehead. He looked far too young to have them, though she couldn’t blame him for being stressed. The stress though, certainly didn’t make him look any less good-

What?

What was she thinking? Why was she thinking about Jake like this?

. . .

The thought of him. (Y/n) was calm. Sheepish, but no longer shivering.

What the hell is wrong with her?

“Actually.. may I tell you a story this time, Jake?”

Jake rose an eyebrow with an amused face, but nodded as he closed the book and propped himself up on his elbows. Looking down at (Y/n) in interest.

“Always, (Y/n). If it’s boring though, don’t get mad if I go to sleep.”

(Y/n) held back a giggle. “I don’t think you’ll even want to sleep, after I tell you. It’s scary..” 

“Try me.”

(Y/n) smiled for the nth time, recalling the memories of the creepy scene in the basement, then began to tell her horror story to Jake.

**_ Scavenging _ **

“Toolboxes are more important, they get the generators done faster! The faster they’re done, the faster we’ll be out! Understood?” Yelled Yui.

“I understand that, but we’ll be independent with Med-Kits.” Claudette ever so simply and calmly replied.

“W-we need them both, right..?” (Y/n) nearly squealed, not wanting to further anger the other women before her. Well, one anyway.

Claudette started, “We do, but should we ever get hurt, we can just mend ourselves while others can continue to work on.. well, whatever they’re working on.” She turned back to Yui. “Although, if you’re so stubborn about taking a toolbox instead, I could always teach you both how to take care of yourselves without a Med-Kit.”

(Y/n) perked up at that. “I’m willing to learn how-“

“No, no, no.” Yui interrupted. “I’ve seen how Dwight does it and it’s too slow.”

“Theen, I can teach you how to use certain herbs and plants that’ll help with self-caring.”

(Y/n) stayed quiet. Nervously eyeing the giant, dark fog surrounding them.

“No thanks Claudette, I’m done here. I’m taking my toolbox and I’m leaving.” Yui reached down to snatch up the commodious toolbox, the blackened fog surrounding the women and rolling in after, consuming the Med-Kit beside it. Yui started to walk away, but stopped mid-step to look over at (Y/n). “If you’re smart (Y/n), you’d take that toolbox.” The Japanese woman gestures over to the big toolbox beside (Y/n)’s feet. Next to it was a skeleton sky, both ready to be taken and both ready to be consumed. 

Yui turned around and left, body embraced darkly by the black fog.

. . .

There was silence, other the quiet, stormy sounds of the fog. (Y/n)’s gaze landed on it, thinking about the book she and Jake found. “Hey, Claudette..?”

“Not now (Y/n), I don’t wanna talk about it.

“It’s not about that.”

“Hm..? What is it, then?” Claudette said with patience this time.

“Did you know that we can manipulate this fog?”

“... Huh?”

“The fog, right here. We can manipulate it. Like um, shape it, if we take the time to learn how.”

A moment of silence.

Claudette began to laugh a little. “Okaaay, what? We’re still human, ya crazy.”

(Y/n) had a moment of irony. Even though nothing was really ironic here.

“I know, I know.” (Y/n) bit her lip, trying to think of the right words to say. “Ask Jake! He and I found a weird book that a mysterious guy wrote to help all of us.”

Claudette giggled. “Hon, do you even hear yourself? Ah.. oh well. I suppose if Jake is caught up with what you’re doing, then it can’t be bad.”

“Trust me this time, it isn’t.”

“Fine fine, we’ll talk about it later, ‘kay? Right now-“ Claudette made her way over to (Y/n), placing her hands on the woman’s shoulders and turning her around. “We need to get back to the camp very soon. Do you want the toolbox or the key?”

“The key.” (Y/n) said without missing a beat. “I want to do something with the black lock.”

“You.. do know what happens if you take a key in, right?” Claudette warned, ignoring (Y/n)’s last sentence.

(Y/n) felt a nasty sense of dread. “I’ll be fi- I’ll be careful.”

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna stop you. I’m just making sure you know.”

(Y/n) nodded, reaching down and picking up the skeleton key as the fog covered the toolbox next to it. The crooked key shone and glittered in her hand, emanating and vibrating what felt dark energy. It made her hand feel all odd and tingly.

“(Y/n), I’m starting to think you’re wanting to make Yui mad on purpose.” Claudette said with another laugh, watching as the fog started to close in on them, ready to take them back to the campfire. 

(Y/n) shook her head with a smile. “Sometimes. I.. took it too far one time.” She paused, feeling Claudette’s gaze on her. She didn’t feel judged however. “But, we kind of made up. She denies ever letting me hug her, it’s so funny.”

“Heheh, you hugged me once! I didn’t think you’d do that.” 

“Honestly? I didn’t think so either. Yui obviously didn’t as well.” (Y/n) wasn’t about to bring up that she slept peacefully beside Jake in his tent, yet. Oh no, her face felt a little bit too hot at that memory. 

“You little softie.”

“Why thank you.” (Y/n) said a bit playfully.

“My pleasure!”

Another moment of silence, save for the giggles from the silly women.

“.. Alsoo, you still want me to teach you how to take care of your injuries without a Med-Kit?”

“You caught that?”

“I’m always attentive, (Y/n).” Claudette said proudly.

“Well.. if you don’t mind theen.” She said a little timidly.

“Of course I don’t mind! Don’t be all shy with me, it’s fine.”

They both a had small laugh, their happy voices being enveloped by the fog. Diminishing their bodies into black particles, as they were transferred back at the campsite.

. . .

With the overwhelming happiness she never received until now, (Y/n) was beginning to forget. Forget all about it, but she’ll be reminded soon.


	4. Jake Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments with the saboteur.

_** The Temple ** _

Yes!

This trial has gone so exceptionally well. After having so many where (Y/n) was being chased into oblivion, due to the key she carried no doubt, she finally got a trial where the Killer was doing half-hearted attempts to please the Entity.

An easy trial is just what she needed. After doing exactly one generator, she hid throughout the rest of the match in hopes of maybe finding something else, up until the gates are powered.

The rainy grounds of the Temple of Purgation was an intriguing place no doubt, the building beautifully crafted inside and out by an elegantly skilled architect. The woman who roamed these grounds was also as elegant. 

Well.. as elegant as she can be with the contagious disease she carried, but (Y/n) found the Plague having more poise and etiquette than most people she knew back in her old life. Although the Plague has something hideous going on, she was still beautiful in that way.

Tall, a royal gait, adorned with what looked to be an expensive silk dress and blinging with lots of silver and gold. It was like she, herself would seem disgusted at touching the commoners who called themselves Survivors. 

Anyways. Going against the Plague was still indeed nasty and sickening, no pun intended, but (Y/n) and the rest of her teammates managed and are still managing. Eventually, the gates blared a loud horn, practically signifying their victory should the Killer not have a card up her sleeve.

(Y/n) took this as her cue to find the hatch. She brought an offering that’ll make it appear in the main building of the grounds, so she immediately made her next destination at the large Temple. Making sure to stay out of sight, lest she’d be found by the Babylonian Killer or any curious (or angry) campers. Or both. She wanted to go into this mission alone.

Just as (Y/n) reached the temple, she was quickly taken in by the demeanor it gave. It wasn’t creepy at all, it was just.. rejuvenating. Fancy. She wanted to bathe in the angelic light that shone in the middle of the building. She wanted to actually get on her knees and pray for anything and for anyone. 

She never prayed before, though, and this was no time for prayers.

(Y/n) forced herself to move, ignoring the calmness of the rain to head down over and under the Temple. Her (e/c) gaze scanned the area for hatch, hoping to find it before the exit gates opened and she’d have to ru-

Cough!

_ Wha? _

Wheeze! Hack!

_Uh oh._

Someone’s was here and hopefully not being chased. (Y/n) didn’t feel her heartbeat grow louder though, so at least that’s good. The voice.. it sounded masculine, but the person was only coughing. Her teammates in this trial were Jane, Jake, and David so it could be one of the two men. 

The ill person slowed his steps as (Y/n) heard him walk down the stairs. His coughing became aggressive at some points, as if he’s struggling to even breathe. 

(Y/n), deciding that it was safe, called out for the sick man. “Hello..? Jake? Davi-“

“Don’t you-“ Another fit. “-Ever mistake me f-for him again.”

(Y/n) breathed a sigh of relief at that voice. She knew exactly who it belonged to and smiled as the messy-haired Jake reached the end of the steps.

But, her smile disappeared as soon as she saw his current state. Limping, a drop of blood running from his forehead and down to his chin. His expression weary, like he would pass out at any moment. He wore a puffy green coat, having a grey hoodie and red flannel shirt underneath that. He wore a pair of black, fingerless gloves. A pair of camouflage work slacks, and a pair of short, black boots. 

(Y/n) blinked. He didn’t look so bad with that outfi-

“You’re staring again.” Jake, despite being sick, pointed out smugly with mischievous eyes.

“W-wha? Oh.. sorry.”

“Seriously, at least make it less-!” Another fit. Fit after fit until his body jerked and he violently regurgitated.

“Hold on!” (Y/n) urged worriedly, rushing towards the center of the underground. She tried to hear any sounds of a fountain over Jake’s loud, echoing coughing. It only took about three seconds before she eventually found one. “Jake, over here!” Her voice echoed out to him.

Within a few moments Jake nears (Y/n) and the water fountain, immediately drinking and cleaning his face with the holy water. Soon, he stopped coughing all together as his brown hair dripped with water. The weary look was gone from his expression, replaced by relief and some confusion as the water before him turned black and red. No longer holy. 

In the comfortable silence, the man turned to face (Y/n), who almost instantly stopped looking at him.

Caught staring, again.

“Sorry..”

“Stop saying sorry.”

“Wha-why?”

“It’s starting to get annoying is why.”

. . .

She smiled. “So if I keep saying it, you’ll stop bothering me?”

Jake returned with a cheeky little smirk. “I don’t think you want me to stop bothering you.”

“You-.. You don’t know that.”

“Oh well. Yeah, maybe I don’t know, (Y/n).”

She smiled victori-

“When you slept in my tent, you wouldn’t stop snuggling me.”

Her heart dropped.

“I even tried to pull away so I could find some items and you still wouldn’t budge.”

She felt her face burn up.

“U-uh-“

“You even talked in your sleep too.”

“No I didn-!”

“You were all like “No! Don’t leave me Jake! I don’t wanna be alo-“

“I-I said no such thing!”

Her face felt like it was on fire now. Her eyebrows furrowed upwards in disbelief. Thing is, she didn’t even feel humiliated.

What was this then?

“You don’t know that.” He mocked in her voice again. “You were sleep, remember?”

Ohhh.. he just HAD to say that.

“T-that doesn’t mean any-“

She was interrupted by the world shaking around them. The ground below them formed glowing, orange faults and emitted ember-like particles at their feet.

Shit.. she haven’t even found hatch ye-

“You got a key don’t you? The hatch is right there.” Jake, serious now, pointed at the center of the chamber, where (Y/n) passed to find the fountain.

... How did she not see that? Was Jake that distracting?

“Y-yeah. Um.. Yes, come on.”

She wasn’t going to be alone in exploring inside the black lock, but Jake would do just fine. He was seemed to be always involved in what he called her ‘little shenanigans’, after all.

Stepping towards the hatch, (Y/n)crouched down, inserted the key in, and opened the hatch. The grey and mostly blackened smoke swirled around as it roared lightly. Invitingly. Not otherworldly and creepy like the basement roars.

(Y/n) looked over at Jake, who seemed to be waiting patiently. He locked eyes with her, those unreadable ones again, with a casual smile. He moved closer, observing her face once again. (Y/n) didn’t move, but she did feel.. numb. Dizzy. It didn’t help that Jake moved a hand to her waist, squeezed a little, moved another hand under legs then-

“Ah!” (Y/n) yelped. The force from being pushed into the hatch surprising her. Unprepared for the fall, she was also caught off guard by Jake falling down and grabbing her waist again. He was under her, head pressed comfortably against her belly, his expression content.

“Jake..” She nearly whined, hands moving to squeeze the woodsman’s coat. “That was unnecessary! Don’t scare me like that, please..”

He looked up at her, a laid-back smile plastered on his face.

“M’sorry. But you should’ve hurried, the hatch closes after thirty seconds of being opened, y’know?” 

She blinked. “It does..?”

“You’re doubting me?”

“No I-!” She paused, trying to relax. “I’m just, learning a lot of things.”

Jake hummed. Pressing his face against (Y/n)’s belly once more and closing his eyes.

(Y/n) rose an eyebrow. What is with people and her belly?

Oh well.

She just continues to hold Jake, until the black smoke consumes them and diminishes them into small particles.

**_ Black Lock _ **

They materialized in a field. A field covered in hazy, grey fog and dead grass. Beyond a very thick wall of fog lies the campfire. The sky above them was a dull maroon color, having no stars, no moon, absolutely zero signs of outer space. This realm really is sad..

Jake came to first, looking down at (Y/n) and squeezing her waist for the nth time. This time a little playfully, he pressed his fingers against her sides and wiggled, wondering if she was tickli-

“Ahh! Stop it! Jake!” She half yelled, half laughed. Moving her hands away from his shoulders and defending her sides. 

“So you’re ticklish.”

“Y-yeah, and-!”

“I can take advantage of that.” He moved closer, gloved hands threatening to tickle her again.

“Jake..!” She whined.

He gave a hearty chuckle. “I’m just messin’ with you, c’mon get up.”

Before he gave (Y/n) the chance to respond, he took her hands in his own and carefully hoisted her up. Giving her time to collect herself.

“.. I-I’m gonna get you back for that.”

“Doubt it.”

“You’ll see!”

“Yeah, sure, are we going back to the campfire or not?” He deadpanned, doing an amazing job of making it seem like he did not care about her “revenge”.

“No.”

“.. uh, what?”

She smiled. “Well, you can go back. I’m staying here and seeing what I can find.” (Y/n) turned around and began to walk to.. nothing. But, she had more confidence in her search this time. The last time she was in an endless land like this, she found something.

“Hey, slow down already.” Jake hurried up behind her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to face him. “If we stay here, then everyone is gonna worry about where we are.”

“No one will worry about me, I’ll be okay!”

“Claudette and Yui will.”

(Y/n) paused. Wait, Yui??

“I-I won’t take long then.”

“I don’t trust that.”

. . . 

And this is why she wanted to come alone.

“So.. wait, you’re just gonna stop me..?” (Y/n) replied with some sadness in her tone. All of those difficult trials, those chases and deaths, all for it to-

“Hey hey- Alright, look.” Jake paused, thinking to himself.

“Yes..?”

“I’m giving you thirty minutes, but we gotta stick together.”

“Oh. That’s fine!”

“No, (Y/n) I’m talking like peanut butter and fucking jelly. Don’t stray away from me for whatever reason.”

(Y/n) tried not to chuckle at that. “I understand, Jake. I promise I won’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“I promise I won’t move away from you for whatever reason.”

Jake took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. “You happy now?”

“Of course! Come on, we’ll go the opposite way.” 

“Ugh.. right behind you.”

(Y/n) turned around and began to walk further into the fog, eyes looking around to find something. Anything.

Here we go again.

. . .

Thirty minutes passed. 

Nothing.

And this “nothing” made (Y/n) and Jake have a little argument now.

“We’re going back.” 

“Ten more minut-“

“Now.” Jake deadpanned. 

“Five more.”

Jake sighed. “You had your time, now let’s go back. What if they need us?”

“Jake-“

“I can’t keep Dwight and my team waiting for long, (Y/n).”

“Then go!” (Y/n) huffed a little and turned around to continue on her way, but was forced to stop once Jake firmly grasped her arm. 

“(Y/n) I’ll carry you if I have to. Let’s. Go.”

“.. Y-you wouldn’t.”

“I will.”

(Y/n) didn’t speak. Not now. Not as she’s being pulled away by Jake. She just averted her gaze to the ground, troubled. She wanted to cry. All of those efforts for nothing. Without the Killers, the pain, and the deaths she would’ve just let this go. But, this was a different kind of weight and she couldn’t just ignore it. 

(Y/n) resisted, but not angrily. Firmly. Jake stopped in his steps, looking back to the woman with slight impatience.

Until he saw just how solemn her expression is.

Jake breath hitched, but he tried to keep his face straight. “What?” He said a little less harshly than he wanted to.

“Five more minutes.”

“(Y/n) I’ll-“

“N-no! Please, Jake..” The tears came and Jake held his breath. 

_Oh shit.._

“Just five more minutes and I promise I-I won’t ask for more, please.”

_Oh fuck.._

“If I don’t find something, then I won’t bother you again I’ll go-“

“Stop.”

(Y/n) stopped, but her frame shook with strong emotion.

Jake took in a very, very deep breath. “Five more minutes. That’s it, alright?”

“R-really?”

Fuck he’s gone soft.

“Yeah, really.. Is it that important to you?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go, M’right behind y-“

Hm?

“Jake?”

“Uh..”

Confused, (Y/n) turned around to see what he was gawking at.

_Oh._

“Wha..”

There was a light on the ground, fog the covering it for sure, but a light was there nonetheless. Feeling Jake move his grip on her arm to her hand, he pulled her towards the light while leading the way. Just in case something went.. wrong.

Walking closer and closer, the haze around them began to clear. Revealing the shape of an odd, lit up, and old fashioned building. Just standing there.. in the middle of nowhere.

Jake tore his eyes away from the building, gaze settling on (Y/n) now. “So. We’re breaking in homes now?”

(Y/n) blinked. “Huh? Oh um, no! I didn’t say tha-“

“You were thinking it.”

“... Can we?”

“Sure. But, I gotta do it first.” Jake said enthusiastically, already making his way towards the building’s door. He first shook the door, the moved around to find any windows.

“W-wait, Jake! Geezus, you look more excited than I am about this.”

“No windows.”

“What?”

“This place has no fuckin’ windows.” 

“Oh, then um.. Let’s try to open the door.”

“I’ll bust it down.”

Just as Jake made his way around to the door and lifted a heavy boot, (Y/n) spoke.

“Wait! Hold on, hold on..”

“What? We don’t have all day.”

“We.. don’t you think we should’ve knocked?”

. . . 

“Nope.”

“Jake.. I think we’re losing our humanity.”

“I ditched it.”

“Wha-“

BANG! BANG! BANG!

. . . 

“Damn thing won’t even budge.”

“Ja-“

BANG! BANG!

“Jake stop, before you hurt yourself.”

“One more.” He said flatly.

“Your foot is gonna brea-!”

BANG!

Pieces of wood broke and splinters fly off the thick door. The bottom of the door moved to reveal more light, but no more than that.

“Yeah.. that thing is not moving.” Jake turned to (Y/n). “Next time, I’ll try to get Jeff and David in a trial with us. They’re way stronger than I am.”

“Okay! Let’s uh, let’s go back.”

“Yeah.” Jake smiled down at (Y/n). “You happy now?”

“Yes! I mean.. I’m surprised you even came with me in the first place.”

Jake’s peaceful little smile turned into an evil grin.

Oh.. what’s he gotta say now?

“Yes?”

“Nothing.” His hand rested on (Y/n)’s shoulder, trailing down to find her hand and take it within his, confusing the woman. “It’s just not as surprising as finding out that you think I’m still attractive, even while I’m sick and throwing up ‘n shit like that.”

There’s that burning sensation in her face again. “H-how do you even come up with-“

“That’s some kind of love I’ve never had before.” Jake said, his voice no longer holding a teasing tone to it. His expression unreadable again as he turned and pulled (Y/n) towards the foggy wall.

She was left speechless, not knowing what to say. He thinks that she loves him?

Does she love him? Does he love her? 

She couldn’t gather all of her thoughts yet. Jake lead (Y/n) into the fog, which soon allowed them to gracefully disappear.

. . .

From the building they’ve tried to explore, an old man from above watched them disappear. Hand holding a glass, swishing the glass around before having a drink and stepping away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter, things will start going a little downhill.


	5. Yui Kimura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments with the street-racer.
> 
> ...
> 
> And Jake.

**_ Prologue  _ **

(Y/n) was half-asleep.

Where, you might ask?

Half-asleep in Jake’s tent, with her head lying on his sleeping chest and listening in on his heartbeat. Reveling in the smell of dirt, hickory, and blood. She couldn’t go to sleep entirely because of her position: her legs folded, bottom on the heel of her feet as she leaned down. Resting her head and one hand on the loner’s chest, the other under her collarbone. It’s been like this for a while now. They wake up, go finish their trials for the day. 

Or night.

Come back. Jake would quietly hang out with his quartet, while (Y/n) would find different ways to bother Yui, joke with Min, or read Vigo. The title Jake gave the book. Afterwards, he’d tell (Y/n) “Come on” or “Let’s go inside” and she’d just.. follow blindly. They would talk, banter, read, sleep together, and repeat.

This time around, Jake had a rough trial against an archaic, teleporting woman named the Nurse. She ended up sacrificing everyone in the trial, with the exception of Jake making it out through the hatch on his death-hook. He got off quite lucky.

It was dark. With the campfire out and no one being summoned into a trial, everyone decided to take this rare chance and actually rest. And the one time where (Y/n) got a chance to sleep peacefully in the dark, she couldn’t. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Never stopped pondering about it.

Love.

That’s what Jake called it, the day they explored around the black lock. (Y/n) guessed that’s what she’s feeling right now as well. It was an odd mixture of happiness and nervousness and.. something else she couldn’t quite pinpoi-

“Oh!”

She gasped and jitters, feeling a warm hand touch the back of her thigh and pinch softly. Within seconds the lantern was switched on, revealing a sleepy, but giddy looking Jake.

“I’m your bed now? That’s new.”

(Y/n) didn’t speak. She just continues to stare at him shamelessly.

“Go to sleep, don’t you have a trial with Yui when we wake up?” Jake groaned.

“I can’t sleep.” (Y/n) replied with a tired groan of her own.

“Why? Had a nightmare or somethin’? Need me to read to you again?” He teased.

She felt her heart race. “No. I just can’t stop thinking about you.” 

_Ohoh?_

“Me?”

“Mhm.” (Y/n) nodded slowly, locking sleepy eyes with Jake now.

His thick eyebrows rose in interest. “What about me?”

She squirmed a little. “I care about you. I care a lot about you.” 

Shit.. was she doing this right?

“Yeah?” Jake responded.

“Mmmhm.”

“Why?”

Why..? (Y/n) wasn’t good with her feelings. 

Oh well.

“You don’t shun me out of your life.”

Jake stayed silent, letting her continue.

“You don’t think I’m crazy and you don’t bash me. You’ve taught me so many things and made me feel a lot of different kinds of feelings. You’ve stuck and put up with me for the longest now, even if I don’t..” She dropped her gaze now. 

“I-I don’t do anything to help you. You’re so calm and patient and.. mean.” Her voice wavered. “I’m even starting to like that you’re teasing me. When I think I want it to stop, I really.. really don’t want it to so-”

(Y/n) shifted her gaze back to Jake, who had an unreadable face. “Please, don’t stop. A-and that face you’re making, don’t stop looking at me with that face either.” 

. . .

A comfortable silence of them staring at each other, before Jake grabbed (Y/n)’s arm and tugged. “C’mere.” 

She obeyed without question, lying down next to the woodsman, who draped his blanket over them. 

“I’m sor-“

“Shush.” Once they were all nice and comfy he pulled (Y/n) into his chest, right where she could feel his steady heartbeat. Jake relaxed once more and rested his chin on her head. “You’re a little masochist.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I was.”

“Yeah?” He rubbed her back with his palm, then the tips of his fingers.

“Mmm.. Mmhm. What else are you thinking..?”

“I’m thinking about eating food again.”

“What else?”

“Hmm. I’d like some water to.”

“And then?”

“Maybe some dessert, like a fudge cookie or something.”

“What about a cupcake?”

“.. M’thinking about having a whole ass dinner with you.”

(Y/n) went silent and content at that, on the verge of sleeping now. “Mmm..”

“I care a lot about you too, (Y/n).” He said sleepily. “You have no idea..”

**_Protection_**.

(Y/n) stood at the campfire alongside with Yui, waiting for their last two teammates to show up. Until then, they just stood in a casual silence, fiddling with their items from time to time. Yui brought a toolbox labeled “Alex” and (Y/n) brought a utility flashlight with reliable, durable batteries and high-end lens. As strangely requested by Yui.

(Y/n) looked down at her clothing, clothing from her old life that Yui helped pick out in this one. It was.. interesting. (Y/n) wore a short sleeved, dark grey, tie-dye shirt that covered a little over halfway of her stomach. It was paired with black shorts and boots that reached to her ankles. She guessed that Yui wanted (Y/n) to look more like her which was, quite endearing. 

Speaking of the racer, Yui wore a torn, pink midriff with a black jacket over it. She wore matching baggy, black pants with gold symbols on them and boots of the same color. Boots that resembled the shoes the Oni wore, (Y/n) thought. Her accessories were a bit much: gold necklace, gold bangles and rings on both arms, pink manicures, and a pink handkerchief tied around her right forearm. A handkerchief she always wore. Yui’s hair was long, wavy, and blonde, swept back with red goggles to push hair out of her face.

(Y/n) found herself gawking at Yui’s face now, but blinked as she notices the street-racer’s expression towards her. Hardened, piercing, the kind of serious, stoic beauty (Y/n) never saw in her life until now. The woman was snapped out of her daze as she heard a strong, but feminine voice.

“We stick together.”

“H-huh?” (Y/n) said dumbly.

“We fight and we stick together.” Yui repeats in that heavy accent and continues. “Should I go down, you come to aid me. Should you go down, I’ll come to yours. You got your flashlight ready?”

“Y-yes! Um.. yes, I do.”

“Good. I want you to piss off the Killer in this trial.”

What?

“Hold on, hold on.. what if I-“

“You’re not going to die, do you know why?”

(Y/n) calmed down a little. Listening.

“Because I’m gonna support you, remember?”

“Yes.. Y-yeah, I remember.”

“Don’t forget. Today, I want you to look at the Killer in their face and make them your bitch.” Her eyes narrowed, icy gaze so intense (Y/n) could melt under the pressure Yui gave. “And don’t be afraid of that god or any gods. You show that do-nothing whore that we’re not scared of it. Do you understand?”

Deep breath, deep breath. She was talking about the Entity. “I understand, Yui.”

“Good.”

And that was that. They stood in silence again.

(Y/n) took this time to collect her thoughts. It wasn’t dying she was worried about, it was leading the Killer to her teammates, should the chase become difficult.

Oh well. She’ll just have to see.

Within two minutes their teammates showed up, black fog and tiny orange particles banding together to form two bodies, then fading away into black wisps in the air. Much to (Y/n)’s happiness, it was Claudette and Jake. Both grim and bloody, with the botanist carrying her usual Med-Kit and woodsman carrying his handy-dandy toolbox. 

Jake was the first to catch (Y/n)’s gaze within his own, giving a loving smile to the staring, blushing woman. However, before (Y/n) could say anything to him, Yui spoke up. 

“I’ll be doing the sabotaging today, Park.”

He broke his staring contest with (Y/n), looking to Yui with a stoic face to rival hers.

“I’m gonna help then.”

“Are you gonna do generators too?”

“Not if you’re gonna try to sit here n’ tell me what to do.”

(Y/n) tensed. They weren’t gonna argue right now, right?

“Fine.” 

Oh thank god.

Yui continues. “(Y/n) is sticking with me.”

Claudette’s voice comes through. “It’s better to split up in these games, Yui.”

“What she said.” Jake firmly agrees.

“You two worry too muuch.” Yui scoffed. “We’re gonna keep the Killer busy all trial, alright?”

Jake’s eyebrows furrowed at that. Looking to (Y/n) who had a conflicted expression, then to a stubborn Yui, then back to the troubled woman.

“(Y/n)?”

She jitters, not expecting anyone to talk to her yet. “Y-yes?”

“You okay with going with Yui? Is she forcing you to do this?”

Yui grumbled.

(Y/n) blinked. Sure her friend was hella bossy.. Aggressive and forceful.

“I’m okay with that! She isn’t forcing me to do anything.” The woman replies with a rather, giddy smile. A smile that confused Jake to no end now.

Yui had her flaws no doubt, but (Y/n) believed in her friend. 

“Yui said that she’ll have my back. And I’ll have hers.” The woman explained with a wave of her flashlight.

Jake glared with sharp daggers at the racer for a moment, but then his shoulders fell, seemingly letting it go. “You better hold up to your promise, Yui.” He spat coldly, almost like he was threatening her. The man then shot a lighter look at (Y/n), eyes lingering within hers, before he turned to have a chat with Claudette.

This didn’t go unnoticed by the racer, but she did have a little chuckle. The racer turned to (Y/n) with a triumphant shine in her light-brown eyes, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Aww they always worry too much, don’t they? Oh oh oh, here! Come here, I want you to wear this for the trial.” Yui began to untie the handkerchief around her forearm, soon holding it out with both hands now. “Your arm.”

(Y/n) nodded in slight wonder, holding out her right arm and waited. Just as Yui began to tie the pink cloth around (Y/n)’s arm, the two of them started to form into black and orange fog at their legs.

After tying it tight on (Y/n)’s arm, Yui grinned in approval. “My hachimaki, it brings good luck. Maybe I’ll make you one. You’d like that, yeah?”

(Y/n) felt dumbfounded, but soon nodded like an innocent child. This is was different. Yui was entrusting the woman with something dear to her. It felt warm. Weird. But, warm and fuzzy. 

(Y/n) only had a few moments to relish in the feeling, before the fog blinded her vision and deafen her ears.

**_ Breakout _ **

Jake, Yui, (Y/n), and Claudette materialized all together in the trial. Looking around to see that they were in the Yamaoka Estate, the Family Residence to be exact. ‘The Spirit’, (Y/n) thought.

The Spirit was difficult for some to face. The raging apparition turned invisible with only the sound of wind and footsteps to indicate where she may be. Taking logical guesses, having great ears, or just paying close attention is a good way to fend her off. As difficult as she may be, (Y/n) knew the Spirit was right up Yui’s alley, evident by the cocky grin she wore.

“You two go, Claudette and I will split up.” Jake spoke in a hushed voice. “And remember what I said, Yui.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I remember. Let’s go, (Y/n).” Yui began to run towards the middle of the map, with (Y/n) following closely behind as Claudette went left and Jake ran right. Within seconds, Yui found a pallet and threw it down.

Okay. It’s time.

(Y/n) caught on fast and found a nearby locker, hopping in and jumping out of it repeatedly, while Yui vaulted the colorful wooden pallet over and over. It didn’t take long, about five seconds and the women could hear a prominent wind blowing, the air around them suddenly getting chilly.

She’s here.

The mutilated Onryō appeared out of thin air, sword emerging from her hand and ready to maim Yui with a horrid war cry. The racer acted quickly and vaulted over the pallet, making the Spirit’s blade meet wood. “You take it from here!” She shouted towards (Y/n), who waited until the Spirit began to move around the pallet. The woman moved in and switched on her flashlight, effectively blinding the ghost before running away. She looked behind her after a few seconds, seeing the twitching monster following behind.

“Yes. Follow me.” She whispered as she ran, heading towards a mossy, stone-built jungle gym to hopefully waste the Killer’s time.

. . .

Yui made sure to stay close within the Spirit, feeling her heart beat become harder as a peace of mind that she was close. She stopped for a moment, by a pallet that she dropped in order to catch the Killer’s attention. Yui subconsciously took a minute or less to pick it up, then go back to following (Y/n) and the Spirit.

She’s doing well, Yui thought. Could use some improvement with her reaction time, but it was enough. Yui stood by with the mindset of not letting (Y/n) get hooked. Not even once. She hoped her friend would do the same, but didn’t worry much about it. ‘It’s about time we establish a bond.’ Yui thought, still watching as (Y/n) ran and snuck around the loop with the Spirit right on her tail. Good. In a few seconds she’ll be getting hit, but she’ll be able to run faster to the stronger jungle gym ahead and-

BOOM!

“Aahh!!” (Y/n) screamed into the air as she went down immediately.

Yui herself felt a strong sense of dread, hearing the aftermath of a cleansed hex totem.

Haunted Ground.

Who the _fuck_ cleansed that??

Plan B then. Yui moved quickly as the Spirit gone to pick (Y/n) up. Fuck it. If she was going down too, she also wasn’t gonna make it easy for the Killer.

Just as the Spirit made her way towards a meat hook with (Y/n) struggling on her shoulder, she failed to notice the racer following right behind her. Right behind becomes right ahead, as Yui crouched down in front of the hook with her toolbox in hand. In seconds the hook falls to the ground, confusing the blue apparition for a split second. 

The Spirit looked down to see Yui grinning victoriously at her, the cheeky racer having driven rage into the Japanese ghost. Emerging the katana out of her hand and with a loud roar, the Spirit swung angrily at Yui, who ducked down and slowly backed away. Another cut through the air and Yui skipped back, smirking smugly at the ghost. “Sad, that Oni can do way better than this..!” Another swing, another dodge. “Come on (Y/n) you can do thi-!“

The Spirit suddenly yelled in frustration and (Y/n) pushed herself away from her grasp, thanks to Yui’s help and presence. 

CHING! CHING!

Two generators done. Biting down her lip in an effort to silence her cries of pain, (Y/n) began to run away as Yui shouted at her. “Get some help and come back! I’ll take her!” 

“G-got it!” (Y/n) shouted back, running further away to find Claudette or Jake. Or both.

Yui ran away herself, feeling an addicting rush of adrenaline as the livid Onryō chased after her, visibly upset.

. . .

(Y/n) looked around the sky, trying to find flashing lights and signs of any generators being worked on. Luckily, she found one in the distance and limped her way towards it.

That was.. the whole experience was new and exhilarating. Being chased, knowing that Yui was around. Haunted Grounds going off and being put down by the blade, being saved due to hook breaking and Yui’s bravery. (Y/n) loved it. She’s never really been one for teamwork, but she’s been dealing with a lot of it. Some of it is boring, others is exciting, like this one. (Y/n) couldn’t wait to get back into the ga-

“(Y/n)!” Said a feminine hissing voice, but not an anger. “Oh no, you’re injured. Over here!”

Huh?

(Y/n) looked around, eyeing the boulders, trees, and bamboo, but she didn’t see a single soul in sight.

Wher- “Oh!” She was dragged into some nearby reeds, coming face-to-face with a bloody Claudette. 

“Right here, hon. Sorry, I forgot I’m wearing these clothes..” She said with a nervous chuckle, pushing locks away from her face.

(Y/n) could only smile as the woman opened up her Med-Kit and brought out the supplies. “It’s okay. How are things with you?” She whispered.

“Good. Two generators are done and Jake is half-way done with another. Keep distracting the Spirit and we’ll out in no time.”

“Amazing.” (Y/n) whined in pain, feeling needle and thread in her skin, her wound being sewn up by the suture. “Yui and I are doing well. We um, got a bit stumped but she helped me.”

Claudette visibly gulped. “Y-yeah. Sorry I um, cleansed the hex totem without thinking. But, Jake and I are gonna cleanse as we go along with the generators.”

(Y/n) gave a small laugh, trying to hold still. “It’s okay..! I’m sorry we’re making you two do all of the work..” If Jake was here, he would go crazy with the amount of apologies being said, (Y/n) thought.

“We’re doing it in peace and quiet, so that’s enough. Besides, I would think that having the Killer coming after you constantly is also work in it’s own way.” 

“Oh..? You’re too sweet, you know that?”

Claudette giggled. “Yes, I know. Thank you.” She took out some gauze and bandages, moving to wrap up the wound. “You know.. Jake is worried about you.”

(Y/n) gave a solemn hum. “I know.. But, Yui is here to protect me. We’re all here to protect each other. Right..?” 

“Obviously silly, I’m just saying-” She paused, securing the bandages. “I’ve never seen Jake like this. At the beginning, he wanted nothing to do with everyone. Nothing. Thankfully, he started trusting us more, and with time I became his first friend. Then he befriended Dwight, then Meg. No more than us.”

(Y/n) stayed quiet, listening closely to Claudette’s words while looking at Yui’s hachimaki on her arm.

“Now, it’s like.. it’s like he finally found someone he can truly connect with.” She smiled and gently patted the bandage around (Y/n)’s torso, putting the supplies back in her Med-Kit and standing up afterwards. “There. Good as new. I’ll go repair a generator, you-“

CHING!

“You go and do whatever you gotta do, hon. But, please be careful.”

“I promise! Thank you, Claudette.”

“No need to thank me.” The two lingered around each other, giving friendly faces, before quickly heading off on their own way.

. . .

Silence.

Chilly wind blowing.

WooOooshhh-

Slam!

“You bitch!” Yelled an injured Yui, laughing and running away as she’d slammed a pallet on the monster’s head, making the groaning Spirit come out of her power. “Quit hiding all the time and just show yourself!” She mocked, heading towards the Killer Shack now, eyeing the window and the pallet, already formulating a plan in her mind.

She ran into the shack, pleased that basement wasn’t located here. Yui jumped over the window straight away to gain some distance, hearing the Spirit groaned in response, as she tried to mind-game around the shack. Yui scoffed at her attempts. “Yeah yeah, you want me? Well, you gotta work your ass off for it!!” Yui screamed proudly, running in circles around the shack, vaulting the window when the Spirit got too close, or faking her intentions to throw her off.

However, eventually, the window got blocked off by the black spikes of the Entity and the Onryō began to close the distance faster. Her rage and bloodlust becoming apparent.

Shit.. 

Yui continued to run around the shack until she stomped inside of it. With the Spirit right behind her and emerging with her weapon, the racer tried reach the pallet in time before she-

“Hah!!” Yelled the Spirit victoriously, watching as Yui screamed and fell just a few feet away from the pallet.

Damn it..

It’s whatever. Yui took this time to recover her all of her senses, feeling a strong sense of pride as the Spirit roamed around to find any Survivors waiting to slam the pallet down on her. The racer snorted and grinned. “Don’t waste your time.”

CHING!

One more generator to go. “Go on and pick me up. You earned it.” The Spirit groaned in response, as if she wanted to talk to Yui, but simply couldn’t make out the words to do so. The apparition made a brief, saddened face at Yui, picking her up and moaning triumphantly. Turning away from the pallet until..

_Click._

The Spirit swiftly turned around, avoiding the light in time as her vision was almost blinded. She kept a tight hold on the struggling racer, opting to go pass the pallet as the monster guessed that no one else would be-

SMACK!

The Spirit roared in disbelief, dropping Yui while holding her throbbing, pained head. Yui laughed ecstatically as she ran past (Y/n), holding her wound tightly. “That’s what I’m talking about, hahah!” (Y/n) smiled at the freed woman running away, turning back to see the Spirit breaking the pallet, then chasing away Claudette, the one who saved Yui. (Y/n) thought about clicking the flashlight at the ghost, but decided she’d be too angry to notice the Survivor.

(Y/n) giggles to herself.

She walked away to find a generator to work on, when it suddenly dawned on her that Yui didn’t touch a single machine in this trial.

Huh.

(Y/n) started to guess that her bad influence was beginning to rub off on others. That wouldn’t be good.. or would it? Only her, Jake, and Claudette knew about the book, Vigo. Maybe if they shared this knowledge with everyone at the campfire, especially with someone like Dwight Fairfield, they’ll achieve something more. Maybe they’ll achieve a lot of things that they would’ve never thought about before. 

(Y/n) shivered, feeling a bit cold. Yeah.. she’ll have to give it a try one day. Maybe then she probably wouldn’t be treated so indifferently. She’ll impress Jake, Claudette, Yui, and even Min by making more friends. 

Or..

If not, then she’ll be fine with just them. 

. . .

**_ Result: DEAD _ **

(Y/n) awoke abruptly, immediately panicking.

It happened. Oh no, it fucking happened again. 

She was just minding her own business, merrily looking around for a generator to repair, blissfully unaware of any danger unless the Spirit was approaching. 

And then her memory went blank! 

She doesn’t even remember making it back to the camp. It was trial and then it was here. Wherever “here” is. 

(Y/n) was shaking, wondering exactly where she is. The area was dark and felt silky, velvet-like, and it smelled of dry leaves, smoke, woo-

Oh.

Oh, she was in a tent. In Jake’s tent. She recognized the jacket, gloves, turtleneck shirt, and scarf at the end of the tent, along with a pair of grey boots he wore. She also noticed her shoes next to his.

Okay. Okay.

(Y/n) looked down at herself, noticing her torn clothes, bandages, and the hachimaki that Yui gave her missing from her arm. 

She desperately hoped it isn’t ruined..

The woman used her sense of touch to feel around for Jake, hands shaking as she came in contact with what felt like his arm. She shook him lightly.

“Jake?” She called out meekly.

No response, other than his occasional soft snore. She shook him again, her vision beginning to blur.

“Jake..?”

His body jerked a bit. “Hm..? Mmmm.. What?” He groaned.

“Jake, wake up. Please.” She couldn’t help it, her voice trembled.

Picking up on her voice, Jake sat up with a grunt and turned on the lantern. Looking to (Y/n) with tired, but concerned almond eyes.

“Oh.. What’s the matter?”

“Did I die? What happened to me?”

He visibly relaxed, but his eyes still held unwavering sympathy. 

“At the end of the trial, Yui found you dead near the house. We didn’t hear you screaming or anything.. My guess is you were the Spirit’s obsession, though.”

Right. Right. Nearing the end of the trial, if you were the Spirit’s obsession, you would be made vulnerable to her and get the short-end of the stick of her wrath.

It was plausible. But, it felt so _wrong_.

“I-I didn’t.. I didn’t die after the exit gates were powered though.”

Jake blinked. “You remember your death?”

“I only remember the things that happen before I die, Jake. I was just walking around, trying to find a generator a-and then my memory.. stops there..!”

Silence came. (Y/n) looked up to see Jake furrowing his eyebrows in deep thought, the wrinkles appearing faintly on his forehead. 

“You’re telling me someone other than the Killer murdered you?”

(Y/n) breathed in a shaky breath. “It wouldn’t be the fir-“

“This happened before?” He looked angry now. The kind of calm anger that was scarier than some Killers. “Y-yes. The first time it was me, you, Claudette, and Yui in the trial. It was the first time you spoke to me.” Jake remembers. The dreary, Red Forest and the Killer at the time was the Huntress. He remembered wanting to question (Y/n)’s.. odd methods, then decided to leave her in her own little world.

“Promise me something, (Y/n).”

She looked up at the messy-haired man, being pulled out of her thoughts. “Yes?”

“Stay away from Yui and Claudette.”

“Wha-“

“I need you to promise me this. Now.”

“Jake, t-they’re my-“

“Friends? (Y/n), people don’t go around killing their friends.”

Shit.. he was right.

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He said a little harshly, causing (Y/n) to wince.

“Jake, please..”

“I’m gonna hurt anyone, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He was softer this time, reading her body language. Jake then reaches over and took his hand into hers, quiet for a beat.

“You care about me, right?”

“Of course..!”

“Then promise me. I can’t have you hanging out with someone who wants to kill you. That’ll never sit right with me, alright?”

Her heart fell. As much as she wanted to protest, Jake was right. It was no use being friends with someone who only saw you as their prey, or someone who wanted to spill your blood for their own sadistic needs. (Y/n) wanted to cry again, but she squeezed Jake’s hand instead. The man instinctively responded by holding hers tightly, running the pad of his thumbs on her knuckles.

“I-I promise.”

He relaxed again. “Thank you.” He reached over and switched off the lantern. “C’mere.” (Y/n) gladly complied as he pulled her closer, laying them both down and tugging the soft blanket over them. He rested his hand on the small of her back, caressing her there.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“No no, it’s okay.” (Y/n) thought back to Claudette’s kind words and tried to fight off the lump in her throat. “Y-you were only worried.” Jake looked down at her with that iconic expression of his. Still rubbing her back. Looking away and closing his eyes with a peace of mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. We out here. Being ‘toxic’, toxic.
> 
> Uh, I mean- No Spirits were harmed in the making of this Chapter.
> 
> I love her, I swear-
> 
> Anyways. Thank you for reading.


	6. Claudette Morel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments with the botanist.
> 
> And of course, with the star of the party that is Jake.
> 
> Warning: Very light smut. Also, some theories and headcanons.

**_ Acceptance  _ **

(Y/n) couldn’t sleep. 

Yep. One of those frustrating, sleepless nights that tends to happen for no reason.

But, there’s a reason this time. Again. 

After Jake had told her to stay away from Yui and Claudette, issues began to rise as expected. While (Y/n) was out in a trial with Zarina, Adam, and Jeff, Jake took it upon himself to confront the women about his concerns, privately. She knew he would do this, he’d told her before she left. 

The unfortunate part is: word somehow got around quick. She heard that he wasn’t pointing any fingers at any of two specifically, but would appreciate it if they could stay away.

That’s what she heard, at least.

Now, things are beginning to look grim and feel tense. Yui’s more irritable about being looked at as a potential murderer, but no one dared to bother her about it. Claudette however, due to her sweet nature she was an easier target. Since she was one of the first four to arrive, she has been revered for her knowledge, impeccable medical skills, and survival skills. She was the kindest of the quartet and felt like a mother to most. As of now, almost no one would approach her. She’s being shunned.

And that? That didn’t feel right with (Y/n). 

She knows what it’s like to be practically banished. Everyone doesn’t want to acknowledge that you exist. If they did, they would try to keep their distance. To them, you were unhealthy and detrimental to their survival. That’s where (Y/n) and Min are, now Claudette too. Potentially Yui.

And that is not right.

(Y/n) pressed her face against the pillow and moaned. Scooting closer to a sleeping Jake.

Jake..

He’s been awfully protective of (Y/n) nowadays. When he gets ready for a trial, he takes her with him. From there, it was either she made it out alive or he’d die trying. Whenever she arrived at the campfire, he causally urged her to sit next to him. She couldn’t even sit next to Feng Min. When it was time for sleep, she would sleep on his time. Not hers. And when the time came, he’d make sure she at least wore her pajamas before bed. Something she’s never done before, as so she’ll be ready for her upcoming trial. But.. As of now, she’s wearing a light purple, spaghetti strap top and shorts of the same, soft fabric.

It was odd. (Y/n) had never gotten this much attention from him before and it made her feel.. giddy. But, part of her still wishes that she had kept her mouth shut about the trial with the Spirit. She wishes she thought more logically about it, actually waited until she had stone cold evidence and it’ll be over. But no, she didn’t. And the truth is still out there.

Since when did she get this way..?

At this point, she didn’t even care who did it. She would just scream at them to not do it again, then go back to being happy with them. With Jake, with Claudette, with Yui. They were having so much fun in that trial. Yui even offered to make (Y/n) her own good luck hachimaki. But now, that’ll never happen. If only she would just-

. . . Hm?

In the darkness of the camp, (Y/n) could see an orange glow passing by, emanating through the fine fabric of the tent.

She sat up.

Who is that? 

(Y/n) squinted her eyes to try and make out the figure. Small, thin, feminine no doubt. Big hair in a ponytail and.. glasses? 

_Claudette??_

(Y/n)’s curiosity was quickly starting to get the better of her. She needed to have a talk with the Canadian woman. Now. 

But.. her promise with Jake. How would he feel if she did this, going behind his back to see Claudette? Granted, (Y/n) has broken promises before, but none as deep as this one, none where someone was actually worried about her well-being. She kept those and cherished those kinds of promises.

. . . 

Dammit.. She slowly pulled the blanket away, being mindful of Jake sleeping as she tucked the cover back around him. She turned and crawled to the zipper of the tent now. Unzipping it. Slowly. Quietly. Once that slow and painful experience was over she crouched her way out successfully. 

Once out, (Y/n) the woman quickly found her uwabaki right outside of the tent. Being as quiet as she can, she slips on her shoes with ease and stood up. Heart racing as she looked around for the orange light again. 

Where.. Oh!

The woman follows after the light. Walking and tip-toeing quietly past all of the dreaming, slumbering tents, then running towards Claudette once she was out of the campsite’s vicinity. Yes! Finally. She could talk to the botanist after a few nights too long without even looking at her. 

(Y/n) followed the light, which she eventually recognized as some kind of flame, into a clearing within the fog. Once she neared Claudette, who was just holding a lantern, she stopped. Feeling as the heavily forested, surrounded clearing moved along with the wind and the dark fog. (Y/n) took a moment to catch her breath so she could speak, but she heard the dark-skinned woman’s soft voice beat her to it.

“(Y/n)?”

(Y/n) perked up at her name. “Claudette!” 

Silence. Then, a cheeky giggle could be heard. “My goodness hon, what are you doing here? Did I wake you while leaving the site? Didn’t mean to be so loud.”

(Y/n) shook her head, gulping down the lump in her throat. “It’s not about that, it’s about. W-well.” (Y/n) trailed off. She didn’t even know how to begin. “Claudette, will you promise to be honest with me? I just need to know. Please.”

Claudette stepped closer, dreadlocks bouncing as she did. Her glasses reflected the light off the lantern partially, but failed to conceal her innocent-like features. “Believe what you will (Y/n), but I’ve never lied to you and I won’t start now. Not ever. So.. what do you need to know?”

(Y/n) nodded, her heart racing again now and her frame trembling slightly. 

She really needs to learn how to control that..

“Did you kill me, Claudette..? If so, why?” 

The woman in question hummed. The medic expected that it’ll be related to.. that event. “No, (Y/n). I did not kill you.” And that was that. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

And honestly? It didn’t need to be more. (Y/n) had never heard of a greater response in her life. “I know. I-I know you didn’t. You wouldn’t, you would never..!” She nearly shouted, releasing some frustration. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Claudette. I should’ve kept quiet until I knew the truth, now everyone is treating you like-“

“Hey! Hey now, calm down.” Claudette stepped closer and pulled (Y/n) into a tight hug. (Y/n) happily returned the embrace, burying her face in Claudette’s shoulder and collarbone. The two share a moment of silence, just holding one another. 

“... (Y/n)?”

“Yeah..?”

“Don’t rule me out yet, hon. Not until you know who did it.”

“Wha?” (Y/n) pulled her head away from Claudette’s shoulder. “But you-“

“I can tell you my side of the story all I want, but in truth, you don’t know did it. Listen, I don’t want you to look at or hear something and just follow it blindly, ‘kay? I want you to find out the truth for yourself.”

“Claudette no, that’s not fair to you.”

“That may be, but if everyone sees that you’re being nice to me, it’ll just cause more problems than what you’re already dealing with.” 

(Y/n) frowned, evidently upset. “Do you think I care what they think..? Do you know how they’ve treated me ever since I got trapped here? And now they’re treating you the same way..!“

“And that’s exactly why I need you to ignore me.”

“Wh-what?”

“Ignore me. I don’t mean to compare, but my case is worse. They think I’m a murderer, an imposter within their own group.”

(Y/n) went silent at that. That is indeed much, much worse. Even in the real world, she’d rather be jailed for stealing than to be jailed for murder. 

“I-I.. I know I sound selfish, but please think about me. It’ll get worse for us if you don’t ignore me.”

(Y/n) blinked, vision blurring with water again. 

“That’s not right.”

“None of this is. But, it will be.” Claudette gently pushed (Y/n)’s head back into her shoulder, embracing contently within the comfortable silence of each other’s company.

. . .

**_ Miss ‘Morille’ _ **

“This is also called the Auric Fog.” Claudette spoke.

“Auric? I thought the book said it was just Black Fog.” This confused (Y/n).

“Well yes, but the fog is made up of these things called Auric cells, therefore, Auric Fog.”

“You’ve really read ahead, hm..?”

“You’re the one to blame, little miss I found a mysterious book! Why wouldn’t I want to read it?”

They both had a giggle at that.

“Okay okaay. So then, now what?”

“The Auric Fog is also the Entity. From the book it says that the Entity is powerful and all-mighty, but is also easily influenced like an animal.”

“Wait wait, can’t it hear us talking about it now..?”

“If so, then this book wouldn’t have made its way into your hands in the first place.”

“.. Touché.”

Claudette continues. “The Entity is influenced by what looks like some form of.. philosophical knowledge.”

“Wha-? Like what..?”

Claudette pauses, thinking of how to put her words together without confusing (Y/n).

“Think of meditating, (Y/n). We let our minds wander and stabilize it into a calmer, more healthier place. But, some people do this to have a better understanding of not only just themselves, but places and spots within their souls. Chakra, if you will. They accept and understand reality as it’s own individual. That they’re more than the world that they live in, that there’s more beyond their world.” 

(Y/n) stayed silent, looking down at her feet in thought.

“I could be wrong. The book was hard to understand and metaphysics is not my forté. Yet. But, anyways. We’re all living in this world with the mindset that we’re trapped. Some of us are convinced that there is a way out, like you, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) looked away from her shoes, with a blank expression as Claudette explained. 

“There are some, who think we’re trapped forever. They’re the most close-minded here, unfortunately. We need to recognize that we’re more than the world that we’re living in. That we’re more than the Entity. That the Killers are no more than puppets and that maps we appear in are fake.”

(Y/n) hummed and added: “That would explain some things. Like the Japanese house, the weird shed in the rainforest, even the Temple. It just doesn’t seem.. correct.”

“That’s because the Entity doesn’t remember what those places look like exactly. It’s got it down, but not down to a T.” Claudette stretched, letting out a deep breath before she lies down on the grass. “The world we’re living in is not real. My theory is that it’s just a mindset. Not an illusion, but a mindset that we’re in. We need to separate ourselves from this “reality”. She emphasized with the parenthesis with gestures of her fingers.

“We need to separate ourselves not just physically, but mentally as well... Again, (Y/n). I could be wrong. It seems only the calmest of minds and spirits could do this, then control the Auric Fog, but I’m determined to do it.”

The calmest of.. spirits? Why did that sound so familiar to (Y/n)? 

“I’m gonna study more about this god that we’re going against. I have time to do it now, especially since.. since I don’t have to worry about anyone anymore. Well, except you.” She looked over at (Y/n) and smiled. “So if you’re thinking about doing this, then you better be careful.”

(Y/n) shrugged playfully, smiling with her teeth. “I willll, I will. So, where are you gonna start?”

Claudette hummed. Having a second or two to think. “Whenever this so-called purge comes. The Blight, or whatever. Not the monster.”

“I know. You’re talking about that weird thing that happens once a year. The Entity’s um.. cleansing thing.”

“Yep! The fog is good way to understand the Entity, but the Blight might be better since it’s most vulnerable at the time. Expooseed.”

(Y/n) chuckled at the silly botanist, shifting to lie down on the grass and roll over next to her. “Hopefully, we don’t have to wait long.”

Claudette snorts. “I’m willing to wait as long as need be. We’re not getting any gray hairs anytime soon, hon.”

(Y/n)’s chest rose, another smile on her face. “True. We got all the time.”

. . .

**_ Coddling  _ **

(Y/n) doesn’t remember falling asleep. However, when she awoke she found herself wrapped around a blissfully sleeping Claudette. On their side, the botanist’s head rested against (Y/n)’s belly. (Y/n)’s arm were around Claudette’s head, feeling numb and prickly. She straightened her spine and looked up, relieved to see no light ahead as she looked back down to Claudette. 

Oh how she was gonna miss this.. the woman found one of Claudette’s dreadlocks and toyed with them gently, fingers traveling down further to the tie in her hair. (Y/n) fought the strong urge to undo the tie, instead just settling on playing with her hair.

She was going to miss this, no doubt. Claudette was her first friend here, the first person who cared about her, the first person who looked after her, despite (Y/n) pushing her away. And now, she’s was going to be her first ex-friend or whatever they called them.

She sighed. Stupid. She was so fucking stupid for doing this.

Carefully, (Y/n) pulled away from the medic, taking time to rub the blood back into her arms. “Claudette?”

The medic jumped, awake after only a peep of (Y/n)’s voice. “Y-yeah..?”

A light sleeper.. huh.

“We should go back.”

“Oh.. mmm...you go. I’m fine with laying on grass.”

“Er, what? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We can hear the-“ She released a long, tired yawn. “W-we can hear the bugs, but they’re not real here. Mmm. Except for those damn, nasty roaches in some of these games.”

(Y/n) covers her mouth in an attempt to hold back a laugh. “Well! Well.. I’ll be going.”

_Before Jake notices I’m gone._

“Really? Well then.” Claudette stood up, patting the dirt and grass off of herself.

(Y/n) also stands up, doing the same with her clothes before looking to Claudette with an intense gaze.

“No matter what you or anyone says, this is not goodbye.”

The botanist returned the gaze. Nodding in understanding afterwards. “I believe you. Just be careful, okay?”

“Only if you will.”

Claudette chuckles, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t have to worry then. See you in the games?”

“I’ll come to your aid there, if you need me.”

“Likewise to you, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) blinked back any tears that threatened to spill.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stu-

“Awe.. come here.” Claudette cooed, walking closer to move in for another hug, that (Y/n) was more than willing to accept.

That is, until she was suddenly shoved away. A firm, strong hand grasping her shoulder.

(Y/n) blinked, wiping her eyes to clear away her vision quickly. 

Oh shit..

Jake stood in front of her, still tired with his messy hair, grey t-shirt, and black sweatpants. He glared almost viciously at Claudette, who avoided his accusing eyes. 

“We talked about this, Claudette.” He began, calm and dark. 

“I know.” The woman turned around, picking up her lantern. “I’ll keep away.” Her voice, for once, held no emotion. She didn’t even turn around to look at him while speaking, doing well to leave no room for arguments on both sides. “See you in the games.” With the bright lantern held carefully in her hands, Claudette began to step into the thick fog. 

(Y/n) watched. Bewildered and confused and.. saddened. Her eyes traveled to her shoes in shame.

Stupid. Stupid. Stu-

“Look at me.” Jake quietly demanded to (Y/n), who reluctantly obeyed. Upon seeing her face, Jake’s hardened expression softened. A hand coming up to (Y/n)’s cheek and wiping the falling tears away. “I’m sorry.”

“I-it’s fine.”

“No. Clearly, it’s not.” He took his hand within hers, leading her away from the clearing. “You know why I do this, right?” His rough voice held a tiny trace of frustration in it.

“Because you’re worried..?”

Jake didn’t respond. Instead, he kept walking. Not stopping until he reached his tent.

“Jake?”

“Get in.” He head gestures to the tent.

(Y/n)’s heart fell, but she complied. Crouching and crawling inside of the tent. Once she settled in she slipped off her uwabaki, putting them away neatly. The woman watched as Jake followed in after her, zipping the tent shut as he sat down. His arm reached over to switch on the lantern, gaze shifting away from the lit object to look at (Y/n) now. Who was, as usual, staring at him.

She broke first. “I’m sorry, Jake.”

Jake tugged on the collar of his t-shirt briefly. “Don’t. I don’t know what else I was expecting, you care too much about them.” He almost mumbled in thought.

“S-still. I promised you.”

“You did.” 

“.. I didn’t keep it..!”

“You expecting me to be mad?”

“Yes!”

Jake hummed, lifting a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “Do you know why I wanted you to keep that promise?”

(Y/n) rose an eyebrow. This question again? “Because you’re worried. R-right?”

Jake shook his head. “Because I want to trust myself. If things go to shit and something happened to you I’d-“ He stopped himself, exhaling a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. “Come here.”

If she could ever be more confused, (Y/n) began to question her own level of comprehension. Nonetheless, she crawled over to the woodsman and sat down again. “Yes..?”

Jake didn’t talk yet. Instead, he responded by leaning closer to (Y/n). With one hand on her bottom and the other on her back, he hoisted her up on his lap. Watching as she stiffened in reaction. 

“What are you-“

“Relax.”

...And relax she did. Eventually. (Y/n) leaned forward and pressed herself against Jake. The man rose a hand to her jaw, lifting her head up so she can face him. 

The two locked eyes for a moment, both being sucked into each other, with (Y/n) feeling like she was being put under a strong spell. It was possibly the longest time they’ve spent staring at each other and it just continues, even as Jake held (Y/n) and lies down with her on him. The woman propped herself up with her hands between her chest and his, wanting to shamelessly look at Jake more. 

“Do you care about me?” Jake asked in that gravelly, but soft-spoken voice of his. The woman felt as though he was dominating over every single emotion she felt. Her mind. Her words.

“Of course. Do you still care about me..?”

“Never stopped.” 

(Y/n)’s heart leaped at that, half-lidded, dreamy eyes observing Jake’s face. The light bags under his chocolate eyes, his lips, the faint line of a wrinkle on his forehead, due to his thick eyebrows being raised a bit in wonder. His ever so slightly wide nose. She felt tired, but wanted to fall asleep with him being the last thing she sees.

However, her ambition was short lived. Feeling his warm hand on her jaw again, she felt herself being pulled to his face. (Y/n)’s lost ambition was immediately replaced by surprise and a burning heat in her cheeks.

Wha..?

He was kissing her. 

Unprepared, the woman tried to collect herself in time. She was not a good kisser by any means, but with Jake’s inviting gestures, she felt compelled to try.

So. (Y/n) kissed him back. Gently and slowly, but not too slow. And her gift was Jake following suit, nipping her lips and tongue pressing against her them, as if asking to go a bit further. (Y/n) shook very lightly for a split second, but opened her lips to consent to him. 

Jake wasted no time as he deepened the kiss with a passion, deliberately making out with (Y/n) now. His hands gone from her face and slid down to her waist, squeezing a little. Twice. Then he felt her down to her thighs, spreading her legs further apart. He steadied himself and grinds his hips against hers, pants already beginning to feel a bit tight. One soft thrust in particular had (Y/n) moaning sweetly into his mouth. 

Jake groaned in response, already addicted to the woman’s voice. He moved his hands back to her waist, grasping there tightly and holding her. As the kiss got more heated and a bit more messy, Jake grinds his semi-hard member harder into the spot between (Y/n)’s dampened inner thighs, causing her legs to tremble.

“Mmmm..!” (Y/n) pulled away from the kiss to breathe, gasping lightly for air and releasing more addicting moans for Jake to hear. 

She felt like she was fire. Like she was going to burn away at any moment. Jake himself was having trouble as well, trying to control himself. He wanted more, to go further than this. He wanted to make love to her, to ravage and savor (Y/n) as she melted away in his arms.

But alas, he needed to have some respect and stop this, now. He’s taking it slow..kind of, and he’s going to continue doing that. Plus, she probably had a rough night.. Turning (Y/n)’s face to his, he gave her one last kiss and a few more clothed thrusts into the heated, whimpering woman before he stopped all together. Catching his breath.

(Y/n) whined, catching her breath as well. She buried her flustered face into Jake’s chest, causing the man to chuckle sheepishly at her. “M’sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And those are my theories, albeit still need some research to do. Felt right to have Claudette voice them, since she’s studious. We’ll learn more as we go.
> 
> Also, gonna start releasing Chapters in this pattern: Jake, Yui, Claudette, repeat. Until the story calls for otherwise.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	7. Inclination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Y/n) deepens her already inseparable bond with Jake.
> 
> Warning: Smut in this Chapter. My very first time writing one, (That’s not in practice.) There are also only two parts in this Chapter, instead of three.
> 
> Hype: Élodie Rakoto comes out today. Big hype.

**_ Floof _ **

A new Survivor appeared in the campsite. And (Y/n) couldn’t stop, _fucking_ , staring. 

The woman in question had dark skin with freckles on her face and light-brown eyes. Similar to the sweet confectionery like caramel. She was a bit tall, having big, floofy, dark-brown curly hair that reached to her shoulders. She wore a colorful crop-top with black jeans and matching shoes, complete with an accessory on her neck, a pendant to be exact.

(Y/n) blinked as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. The woman was so beautiful. Not in a way that made (Y/n) have a crush on her or anything, but in a way that she was just so admirable. Though, there’s some people who look like they make others question their own sexuality. 

People like Felix, Kate, and now Élodie are one of those people.

(Y/n) wanted to get up and say hi, she wanted to get to know the French woman. She seemed like the mischievous, but kind type. Easy to talk to, but difficult to understand. An enigma, like Jake. (Y/n) wanted to understand her.

But, the circle of attention around the lady made her stay away, meters away from the site. Besides, (Y/n) didn’t want to face the possibility that Élodie wouldn’t even like her because of her persistent, selfish ways during the trials. Indeed (Y/n) wanted to befriend the lady, but she wasn’t about to give up everything she’s earned so far. She’s come way too far.

(Y/n) continues to observe the dark-skinned woman in awe though, getting lost in thought about different scenarios of befriending Élodie, until she felt someone behind her. 

(Y/n) stiffened, feeling Jake sit directly behind her. His body surrounded hers as he wrapped his arms around her belly, then hid his face in her neck. Breathing in, then breathing out audibly. In turn, she relaxed. 

Ever since they kissed, they established their relationship even more. (Y/n) had the thing. That one thing.

That one thing called a boyfriend now.

Since then, Jake has paid more and more attention to (Y/n). It was.. addictive. Granted, she could deal without it for a while, but when he was ready to give, she doesn’t hesitate to accept. The feeling was so, so warm. Loving. Exciting and inviting like saccharine.

So then, why did something about this relationship also felt.. odd? (Y/n) guessed that it’s because it’s her first, real one. She dated a boy back in high school, but he was just.. so immature. (Y/n) frowned in disgust when she remembered he told her that he never actually wanted a real girlfriend. Just “someone for fun”. Literally a day after he claimed to love her.

Ugh..

(Y/n) decided to ignore that odd feeling. Looking down at Jake’s jacket and gloved hands, noticing that he was bloody. Just coming back from a trial no doubt. Today, Dwight instructed Jake to go along with him, Jeff, and Yui. 

That meant he couldn’t be with (Y/n) in her trial. 

The leader said he wanted to test out ways to sabotage effectively with the team, but failed to predict that their success would also tilt the Killer. They survived without any of them but Jeff being hooked, but suffered great injuries upon leaving. 

“Are you okay, Jake..?”

“Mmm.” He grumbled, rubbing circles on her stomach with his thumb.

Must’ve been a really rough trial. 

(Y/n) looked away from the grumpy man, gazing back at Élodie now. Ignoring the tickling sensation of Jake’s hair on her neck.

“The new camper. She’s really beautiful, isn’t she?” She said softly, still in awe. 

Jake grumbled again.

“Jake?”

She was met with silence, but knew he was listening.

“I think we should tell everyone about Vigo soon.” She doesn’t mention that she wants to do it so she could have more friends. It doesn’t have to be all of the Survivors, just some. Even a few. She no longer felt proud of being shunned. If they respected her a little though, she could have a chance to bring Claudette and Yui back into their group.

(Y/n) was met with silence again, but felt Jake squeeze her a bit and slowly move his head away from her shoulder. The woman felt his forehead on the back of her head, his breath on the nape of her neck as he finally spoke.

“No.” Jake said flatly.

She blinked, perplexed. What made him change his mind?

“Wha- Why?”

“The book says that not all of us can mentally handle the knowledge.” 

“We should still try..! It may sound selfish, but it’ll be worth it if we can escape from this place. Maybe we won’t even remem-“

“We’ll find another way.” He deadpanned.

“What if.. what if there’s no other way?” (Y/n) thought sadly. 

“Then we’ll make one.” He emphasized his last word by squeezing her body again. “For now, it’s enough with just the two of us.”

_What about Claudette?_

(Y/n) sighed, concerned, but chose not to push it any further lest she annoys Jake. She instead, decides to go back to revering Élodie.

“She is beautiful.” Jake spoke, chin resting on (Y/n)’s shoulder now.

The woman eagerly nodded in agreement, a sappy glint in her (e/c) eyes.

“She is! I wonder which Country she’s from.. oh and her hair is so pretty.” (Y/n)’s gaze fell as she lifted a hand to toy with her own hair, playing with it until she felt her hand being swatted away.

“Don’t. Don’t you start.” Jake languidly demanded, taking (Y/n)’s hand into his own and rubbing the spot he struck.

“S-start what?” Perplexed, again.

“Don’t start thinking you’re not beautiful or I swear to god-“

“Heheh, I’m not! I promise. I’m just admiring her, okay..?”

“You better.”

“I’d better? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means if you don’t do what I say, I’m gonna do something about it.” 

_Oh, really?_

With a playful expression, (Y/n) turned herself around to face Jake. “And you’re going to do what, exactly?”

His eyes bore into hers, accepting her challenge immediately. “... I’ll tickle you.”

Her face fell. “W-wha?”

“And I’ll keep tickling you until you beg me to stop.” He leaned forward.

She leaned back, comically shook with fear.

Jake continues. “And then make you admit that you’re beautiful.”

(Y/n)’s face began to burn. “I-I won’t test you!”

“You should never.” Jake mumbled as he took off his bloody gloves, then moved his hands to grasp both sides of (Y/n)’s face. “Seriously. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. No other girl can top you in my eyes, understood?”

“O-of course!” (Y/n) nodded earnestly. 

Jake searches her eyes for any hint of doubt. Then, he pecked his lips against her forehead. “Mine.” He grumbled.

“Yours..?” She reached up, returning the affection with a small smooch on his cheek.

“Mmhmm.” Jake gave one last kiss on the tip of her nose, picked up his gloves, then stood up.

“I’m gonna go get cleaned up. Don’t move.”

“Okay..!”

(Y/n) watched as he turned and left, pulling his scarf off along the way, while his form disappeared from her line of sight. The woman sighed, affectionately so before she turned to casually gawk at Élodie again. 

Who was also looking at her.

_Oh shit- be normal._

While (Y/n)’s whole being went numb, she lifts a hand to wave at Élodie, who returned the gesture with a cool smile and a wave of her own.

Aand that’s how you make someone’s day.

**_ Passion _ **

It’s cold and dark, save for two lanterns revealing two people.

Jake sat, clothed in a burnt-orange sweater and dullish brown work slacks. He’s leaning comfortably against a tree with the book “Vigo” in his hands, reading it thoroughly. A few feet away from him sat (Y/n), dressed in a long-sleeved, light-pink pajama shirt with buttons and capri of the same color. It was quiet, save for the soothing, stormy fog surrounding them. As Jake kept reading, (Y/n) held out her arms to feel the fog in her hands. She focused, hands tingling due to the particles that slipped gracefully through her fingers. 

(Y/n) thought about Claudette. How she claimed that only the most stable of minds could manipulate it. 

So.

(Y/n) closed her eyes and focused. Concentrating. Trying to block out any noise and putting all of her attention on the fog instead. Focus.. focus.. focu-

“What the hell are you-“

“Hush!”

Once she felt Jake’s presence disappear, she closed her eyes again and concentrated on tingling particles. Breathing slowly now. One. Two. Aaand..

(Y/n) pulled her hands together and away from the chilly fog. Opening her curious eyes and finding that.. 

Nothing. Nothing is in her hands.

Oh well! Worth a shot. 

(Y/n) turned around to see Jake with a raised brow, looking at her as if she’s crazy.

“.. You happy now?” Jake asked with a chuckle, moderate cheekbones a bit more prominent with his smile.

“No. But, yes..! .. You should try it sometime, Jake. I think you can make it work.”

“Hmm.”

The man turned around and went back to his spot, grabbing the book and reading it. Leaving (Y/n) to her own devices.

Who.. actually didn’t want to be left to her own devices.

With a curious face she crawled overand looked up at Jake, who glanced at her for a second or two, before going back to reading. He kept his eyes on the book. Well, tried to. He could tell she wanted something, but she was willing to wait patiently until he was done.

_What a pet._

Jake wanted to see how long (Y/n) was willing to wait, but he also wanted to talk with her as well. 

He sighed in defeat and finally closed the book. “What’s on your mind, (Y/n)?”

“You’re leaning forward while reading.”

He scoffed. “And?”

“Doesn’t your back hurt..?”

“You did not just come all the way over here to tell me how to sit.”

She went silent. It was half-true.

“I kind of did.”

He chuckled. “Whaddya want?”

She paused again, feeling her heart leap. What did she want, exactly?

“.. I-I want you.”

_Ohoh?_ Jake sets the book aside.

“Okay. What do you want from me?”

“A kiss..?”

“Why?” He smirked.

Oh no, he was NOT doing this. She was not having it tonight.

“Because, I love kissing you.” She replied, as blunt as she could so he wouldn’t tease.

“Why do you lo-“

“Jake!” She whined, causing the man to laugh for a little.

“Alright, alright fine. C’mere.” Jake grabbed (Y/n)’s shoulders, gently pushing her down on her back with him on top. The man held himself up with both arms beside (Y/n), staring at her from above with his usual, lazy smile. “You want a kiss, right?”

She nodded earnestly, giddy as Jake moved an arm under her and lifted her off the ground a little for a kiss. The man pressed his lips against hers, pleased when she returned the affection. Surprised when he felt her tongue against his lips. 

He immediately grants her wish to deepen the kiss, tongue rolling against hers in a hungry manner. Jake moved his arm away, careful about setting (Y/n) down while still continuing to kiss her. Pausing every now and then so they could catch their breath. He grasped her thighs, moving them to ground his hips sensually into her own. 

(Y/n) moaned into his mouth, back arching in slight pleasure. This again, she loved it. It was still pretty new to her and she welcomed it from Jake with open arms. Her mind gone into a haze as the space between her thighs dampened, reveling in the feeling of Jake’s hardened member there.

After a few more thrusts, Jake reluctantly pulled away before he came from just grinding on (Y/n). Looking to the flustered, needy woman who was out of breath. Lying down under him with cloudy, affectionate eyes. Lips a bit puffy from their short make-out session. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration. He wanted more. Not just a taste. His mind screamed at him not to go any further. For respect, for respect.

_. . . Fuck it._

“(Y/n)?”

“Y-yes?”

“Do you want me?”

She hummed in confusion. “Of course I want y-“

“Not like that, not like that.” He gave her an intense, unreadable look. “I mean, do you want to make love?”

Ohhhh.

(Y/n)’s heart raced, loudly as blood rushed quickly to her ears. She’s never done something like this before, not here and not in the real world either. To do this, she’ll no doubt be giving herself completely to Jake. 

And she was fine with that.

Her train of thought broke when Jake spoke and he started to pull away. “M’sorry, I-“

“No! No, no it’s fine.” (Y/n) quickly grabbed his sleeve, gripping it tight. “I’m okay with that, Jake.”

The man blinked, visibly relaxing with a laid-back smirk.

“Good. Was starting to think I scared you.”

“You’re not scary.. Except when you try to tickle me.” She joked happily.

“Mmm. Good.” Jake said no more, snaking his hands from (Y/n)’s thighs to her capris, tugging down on the waistband of it and her panties. He stopped to look at her, watching for any sort of resistance in her expression. When he found none, he pulled the garments off her legs. 

Jake stared intently at her pussy, ogling as it glimmered in the orange light the lantern gave. (Y/n) melted under his gaze, resisting the sudden urge to close her legs from some embarrassment. Instead she spreads them out further, finding the sensation to be pleasing.

“Fuck..” She heard Jake gasp. The woodsman grabbed his sweater and pulled it off, the light wind on his skin getting rid of the burden of heat.

(Y/n) stared at his torso. It wasn’t the first time she’s seen him shirtless, but the way the light shone on his light, muscular form was nice to look at. The woman looked as Jake worked to unzip his work slacks, the man freeing his semi-hard cock from it’s confines. Now, it was (Y/n)’s turn to ogle.

The size and length.. He was perfect, not too big and not too small. But still.. she closed her legs instinctively. There’s just no way that would fi-

“Don’t hide from me.” Jake chuckled in a husky voice now, combined with his iconic, gravelly tone and (Y/n) could just lose herself then and there. 

“Sorry, sorry..!” She mustered up the courage to spread her legs, her thighs trembling as Jake moved in and used on hand to press his dick between her wet folds, then rub. Teasing the sensitive bud of her pussy with the length of his cock and coating himself as much as he can with her juices. The woman lets out whimper at this, bringing a hand up to bite the sleeve of her shirt.

Oh how (Y/n) wanted him inside of her, like now. Her back arched again and her body shook as Jake slapped his dick against her pussy a few times, enjoying the wet sounds as he watches her moan quite loudly with a dark, lustful expression on his face. He wanted to tease (Y/n) for a little longer, make her beg for him, and just ruin her all together. 

But his heart told him not to. He could tell this was her first time and didn’t want to overwhelm her too much. 

_Another time. Another time._

Instead, Jake lifted (Y/n) shirt and her bra, eyes settling hungrily on her soft breasts. He stopped edging her on and finally pressed the tip of his hot member against her entrance. 

He paused, looking down at her and waited for consent. At first though, (Y/n)’s expression seemed excited and scared at the same time, as she stared at the spot where they were going to be connected. 

Excited and scared, as expected of the latter, Jake mused. Still concerned.

However, when she looked up at him and gave him just one nod, all of that worry got tossed right out of the window. 

Jake leaned forward, his forehead meeting hers. He grabbed both of (Y/n)’s legs, spread them further apart, and pushed himself in. Slowly. Slower when he heard the woman whimper in pain. 

_Shit.. control yourself, Jake._

“Are you okay, (Y/n)?”

“Y-yeah! It hurts, but keep going.”

“Tell.. tell me when to stop.”

“It’s fine! Please keep g-going, please..”

_Ah no, the begging.._

He obeys. Burying himself deeper into (Y/n) and only stopping once he’s filled her to the brim. Jake didn’t move, letting out a breath he held in, as he tried to focus on anything but the tightness of her pussy.

“(Y/n), relax.” He groaned.

“I’ll try..!” The woman reassures him. The pain of being stretched spiked throughout her body. As Jake tried to focus on anything but the pleasure, she tried to focus on anything but the pain.

In an effort to get her to relax, the woodsman started to lick and nip at (Y/n)’s breasts. Sucking and pulling hard at the nipple while one of his hands came up and kneaded the other breast. Tugging on and tweaking that one as well. 

“Aaah- Mmph!” It seemed to work. (Y/n) tried to cover her mouth, unknowing that her pussy started to relax due to the pleasure. 

_Perfect._

Jake began to move his hips, slowly pumping his cock in and out of (Y/n)’s tight walls. She didn’t whimper, didn’t cry, she started to moan delightfully, just for Jake. No longer able to contain her voice because of Jake’s dick massaging her walls so well, touching every place inside of her.

Jake left (Y/n)’s tits alone to see them bounce now, the man thrusting into her sex faster and coming face-to-face with his woman. His palms held both sides of her face at first, then he slid his hands up and down from her hairline, stopping on the top of her head. Folding his fingers together there so he could drink in every face she made.

Rocking himself harder and faster into (Y/n), Jake saw her expression change completely: Half-lidded eyes, reddened face, and puffy lips open for gasps and moans that she covered occasionally. Whenever his cock hit that one spot in particular, her eyes even rolled back in pleasure momentarily, tears falling from them and onto the bottom of the man’s palms. 

Jake took in all of it, then lies his forehead against hers, kissing her occasionally with his tongue. 

(Y/n) was drunk with lust. She could only lay and take Jake’s dick over and over and over.. and over. Her palms found Jake’s arms and she caressed them lovingly, just wanting to touch him. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he shamelessly slammed faster into her dripping pussy. The sound of wet skin slapping skin filling the air and her ears erotically. 

“O-ohhh.. oh god, Jake..” (Y/n) moaned out his name. She was feeling close, keen with desire when she felt his cock throb and swell inside of her. Making her feel oh so full.

Jake groaned darkly, nearing his end as he pounded into (Y/n) almost painfully. “Do you love me?”

“Wh-whaa..?” (Y/n) whined, her breath quickening. Everything felt so good, it hurts.

“Say that you love me. Now.”

She obeyed almost instantly. “I-I love you Jake..!” She nearly cried out desperately, pouring her heart out a bit. “I-mmm..love you, Jake! I love you so much!” They were so, so close. “D-don’t stop. Pleease.. Don’t stop, I-I need you Jake! Please don’t sto-aahh!” (Y/n) cried as she came hard, her pussy squeezing and creaming all over Jake’s cock. Jake followed soon after, with just a few thrusts and he reached his own orgasm. Filling up (Y/n) with his warm seed.

Still holding her head within his hands, he took this time to catch his breath and kiss her. Still giving small, slow thrusts inside of her to ride out the last bouts of his high. 

So much. It was so much of his thick cum. Jake’s been backed up for too damn long. Once he’s finished, he pulled his now flaccid dick out of (Y/n), their fluids mixed together and connecting their sexes by a wet string, then said string dripping off of Jake’s cock. He carefully lets go of (Y/n)’s head, looking at her body.

(Y/n) was stuck in the afterglow, quivering thighs still spread as Jake’s cum dripped from her beaten pussy. Her chest heaved and shook with stimulation, and lastly her face was semi-wet with tears of pleasure.

Noticing she was being ogled at, the woman closed her legs in slight embarrassment, but still felt flattered nonetheless. “Don’t look at me like that..” She mumbled and whined, avoiding Jake’s penetrating gaze.

“You have no idea how absolutely gorgeous you look when being fucked.” He said very bluntly, earning a heated blush from a sheepish (Y/n). 

“Jake!” 

“No, I’m serious.” He paused, tucking his member away into his boxers and slacks, zipping himself in. Jake then gave his girlfriend another unreadable expression, like he was waiting on her to get dressed. Before (Y/n) could grab her clothes however, she was instead held by Jake, who unceremoniously pulled her bra and shirt down to cover her. The woodsman pulled her into his lap, being mindful of the now shivering woman.

_She’ll get used to this._

“You’re mine. I want you to say it.”

(Y/n) tried to ignore her embarrassment as she faced Jake. “Why..?”

“I want to hear in that sweet voice of yours.”

Her turn to pause now, evidently taken aback.

“I’m yours.”

Jake hummed in disapproval. “Sorry, you’re whose?”

_Oh, right._ “I’m yours, Jake.”

“Do you mean that?”

She gave a chuckle at his persistence, leaning comfortably onto Jake in his lap, looking up at him. “Yes, I mean that. I’ll always be yours, as long as you care about me.”

“Good. And look, I don’t just care about you, alright..? I love you.” His rough voice was breathless and soft-spoken as he said that. (Y/n) couldn’t help but to melt under his loving gaze. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh-
> 
> Please, enjoy the rest of your day.
> 
> Imma go play some DBD.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	8. Omission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half of the truth is revealed.
> 
> Half.
> 
> A potential friend joins the mix.

**_ Premonition _ **

She did it.

When (Y/n) heard that Yui was going into a trial with Dwight and David, she tried to reason with Jake to see if she could go. 

Without _him_.

At first, the woodsman wouldn’t let her go. He shot down nearly every plea and explanation (Y/n) made, mostly out of being fiercely protective of her. Thankfully, after asking and asking and bothering and asking, (even showing a little tears along the way) she finally convinced Jake to let her go into a trial without him. 

(Y/n) was nearly ecstatic. Though, she figured that if he’d known Yui was going to be there as well, then his answer would’ve been a kind, but definite “fuck no”.

She’s pushing her luck. She knows.

Anyway, there lies one condition to this agreement: if she died in this trial and doesn’t have any recollection of who may have killed her, then she’ll never be able to go into a trial without him again. She wouldn’t even be allowed to ask.

Deal!

So, this brings (Y/n) to where she is now. Materialized in the MacMillian Estate, the Groaning Storehouse more specifically, alone. It was dark, dullish blue, and depressing around here, but (Y/n) can manage. Just like always.

The Killer didn’t bring an offering though. Either that, or it was a Mori, which (Y/n) settled on hoping that the Entity only allowed no more than one kill, by the hands of the Killer. 

Welp. She didn’t have time to think about it, (Y/n) had something to accomplish: Do one generator. Only one generator. That will never change. Go find Yui and talk to her. If everything goes well, the woman will even tell Yui about Vigo. Just her, no more.

She inwardly sighs, stopping in front of a broken generator and beginning to repair it. (Y/n) was well aware that she’s been going against Jake’s wishes, so much that it made her feel extremely guilty. First: Sneaking off and talking to Claudette, after (Y/n) promised Jake that she wouldn’t speak to the medic. Second: she asked to go into a trial without him. After that, she’s planning on talking to Yui, a person he heavily mistrusts. Now, she’s also planning on telling Yui about Vigo, after he told her not to let anyone else know.

Yeah..

It was wrong to go and do such things without him knowing, especially after telling him that she wouldn’t do it. But, (Y/n) had her reasons: Her death and escaping this realm all together. Losing Jake would probably be mentally damaging to her, she thought solemnly. He’s the only person she knows who loves her. If she loses him, she’ll-

“AH!” (Y/n) screamed, feeling herself being harshly pulled from the half-way finished generator and onto a velvet like shoulder, the energy within her robbed. She heard ghostly breathing that seemed to be under a mask and the “creaking” sound of her chugging generator being held in the Entity’s unholy clutches.

_Wait, who is this?!_

(Y/n) struggled when the perpetrator began to carry her effortlessly to a nearby meat hook. She bit, kicked, pushed, you name it. Bottom line is she’s giving him a hard a time. She continued to struggle on the shoulder, until the Killer suddenly dropped her.

Huh?

(Y/n) fell onto her stomach, arms in front of her to cushion her fall. She was confused now. Terrified, but confused. When she looked around to see where the Killer went, the woman was surprised to see him crouching right in front of her face. 

She’d never seen this man before. A white mask, scary and gloomy with droopy eyes and mouth. The murderer was wearing a dark-grey, hooded cloak with white accents, having strips of cloth floating ominously behind him. He wore dirty grey pants and boots of the same condition, his ensemble complete with holding a knife in his gloved hand.

They just stared at each other, with the Ghostface breathing audibly within his mask and (Y/n) shivering with dread and shame that she didn’t even see him coming.

“Stop struggling and maybe I’ll let you go.”

Her (e/c) eyes widened. He can talk?!

“Wh-wha?” Said (Y/n), dumbfounded. The Killer grips the knife in his hand, causing her to jitter.

“It’s always the same with you people. You do the damn generators, run, do another generator, die or escape, rinse and repeat. And I gotta be the one to chase you all around like mice.”

The Killer sat down with a deep, smooth sigh. He looked.. bored.

“You go to your tight knit little group, bitch about me, and talk about the trial blah blah.. And the only kind of recognition I’ll ever get around here is shitty. Fuck you Danny for not reading the fine print, am I right?”

_What?_

CHING! CHING! CHING!

Three generators were done. Just like that. And (Y/n) notes that the Ghostface did not care at all, judging by his carefree body language.

There was a short pause. The murderer looked at the woman lied before him, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face up. Observing (Y/n) from every angle of her face, he hummed with interest.

“.. You’re a quiet one, you know how to shut up and listen. I like that, although.. We haven’t met before, have we?”

(Y/n) shook her head, dizzy from her energy being drained further.

“Ohhh..” He rose his knife, causing the woman’s breathing to rise. “That’s not good, I need to get you all nice and bloody for a photo then. Our first picture together, exciting right?” The man’s smooth voice laced with venom feigned excitement, especially as he now squeezed firmly on (Y/n)’s neck. Her trembling breathing hitched as she struggled to fill her lungs with precious air.

“Stop, I ain’t gonna kill you. But, once I’m done with you, you go cry to your friends and tell them about how badly I violated you, understand me?” 

(Y/n) whined as he raised the knife, releasing a blood-curdling scream when he forced the weapon into her back and carelessly dragged it up. (Y/n) felt her warm blood spew and spill small pools around her body, the sharpness of the blade intruding and ripping easily through her flesh before it stopped at a bone in her shoulder.

The Ghostface’s covered fingers gripped (Y/n)’s jaw and lifted her face. Moving the knife above her head, he let her own blood drip onto her head and watched it fall down on her face. Letting go once the knife didn’t allow any more to fall. Putting his trusty blade down, he examined her face closely, using a thumb to smear some of the blood on her cheek.

“There, you look cute.” He snickered darkly, even more pleased when (Y/n)’s tears began to fall in humiliation. She wanted to scream, yell, do something, but could only sob loudly in pain. 

The Ghostface seemingly waited. Waited patiently until she calmed down, wails reduced to silent cries. 

(Y/n) blinked in surprise when he moved to lie down beside her, wrapping his arm around her injured shoulder and lifting her face to press against his mask. When (Y/n)’s blurry, watery eyes cleared, she cried in horror once she saw the camera in front of her and the Ghostface.

“Cheese..!” He said in fake cheerfulness again, blinding (Y/n) temporarily when the camera snapped, taking a picture of both of them. The Killer then finally releases her, grabbing his knife and standing up. Looking down at the woman with his true expression unknown, seeing her saddened, half-lidded eyes staring up at him.

“Aww. Damn.. No one’s really coming to get you, huh? Says a lot about you so-called Survivors. Every man for himself, I guess. Hmm..” The Ghostface crosses his arms, thinking and once again, confusing the ever living hell out of (Y/n). “Ah, I know. I’ll bring someone to help-“

CHING! CHING! 

The horn to signal the exit gates to be powered blared, annoying the Ghostface for interrupting his train of thought. “.. As I was saying. I’ll bring someone to help you. Try not to die and waste my time, okay? Actually, here-“ He grabbed (Y/n) by her waist and hoisted her up, the woman hissing in pain at the unwanted touch. The Ghostface carried her to the corner of the map, then sets her down on her stomach again. “Stay, girl.” He joked.

With that, the mysterious man stoops down and crouches away like it’s second nature. How he could do that for so long without staggering is beyond (Y/n).

**_ Weak _ **

(Y/n) was falling asleep. 

Or she was dying, she didn’t have the energy to think about it and come to a conclusion. The blood on her sore and aching back still spilled and left her feeling cold. She could hear the crows flying above her, cawing almost obnoxiously. If (Y/n) wasn’t on the verge of passing out, she’d be extremely annoyed. If only brooms were an option to shoo off crows.. Jake wouldn’t like her doing that, though.

“They’re more scared of us, than we’re scared of them”, he said. “They won’t hurt us, they’re innocent” he said. “Stop bothering them and making them give you away”, HE said. And now look where she is. Crows cawing above her, not even swooping down to nip at her, they’re just letting everyone know where she is. Maybe they’re innocent, but not in good way. 

(Y/n) loves Jake. She loves him to death, after death, to the moon and back, but they did not have to agree with each other on everything.

(Y/n) moaned in exasperation, wondering whe-

Oh?

She could hear someone. Two people, one male and one female.

“She was just laying here, bleeding out.” Said a deep, smooth voice (Y/n) recognizes as the Ghostface.

“You lie.” Said a silky, female voice with a heavy accent. 

Wait..

“Y-Yui!” (Y/n) called out to her, but the moment she moved a muscle she yelped in pain. Yui’s here, but the Ghostface is here also. (Y/n) couldn’t tell Yui about Vigo.. damn.

“Stop that! You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Yui crouched down to (Y/n), followed by the curious Ghostface. The street-racer inspected the woman’s wound, then removes her racing jacket and stretches it as much as she could without deliberately tearing it apart.

“Never seen a woman like you before.” The Ghostface comments, poking Yui’s muscle with the blunt end of his knife, using one hand to squeeze the bicep. “There’s that red-head. She’s faster, but she’s not nearly as built as you are, damn..”

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Yui snapped at him, pulling her arm away. She started wrapping her jacket around (Y/n)’s back and shoulder wound, deeming it thick enough to stop the bleeding. The woman rubbed the makeshift bandage on (Y/n)’s back, soothing her and the pain. 

The Ghostface laughed, seemingly giddy when his shoulders rose. “Are you seriously talking to me like that..? You know I can cut off that filthy tongue of yours, right?”

“Do it.” Yui challenged. “You already displeased your god or whatever, the least I can do is let you kill me.” She teased with a smirk, her response making (Y/n) tense with dread.

The Ghostface tilts his head. Quiet. Thinking. Scaring (Y/n) and having her hope he doesn’t strike Yui.

“.. You have a big mouth, Yui.”

“Damn right I do.”

The sneaky murderer only chuckled, crossing his legs and leaning back. 

Yui took her short victory and looked over to (Y/n), rubbing the now sleepy woman’s back.

“You’re happy to see me, (Y/n)?”

(Y/n) snapped out of her half-asleep daze, hearing Yui’s voice.

“Why wouldn’t I be..?”

“Do I really have to say it?”

No. No, you don’t.

“D-did you do it, Yui?” (Y/n) was sure she didn’t, but she had to hear from her.

There was silence. Save for the tree leaves and greenery frolicking in the wind, as well as Ghostface’s clothes flowing alongside them.

(Y/n) heard a gulp, then Yui spoke again.

“No.”

(Y/n) smiles. Breathing a sigh of relief. “Knew it. I knew it you didn’t do i-!”

“Don’t get your hopes up.. Remember the first time you died? In the Red Forest?”

“.. What..?”

“You have to remember. That’s.. I was so angry and scared and-“

Ghostface burst out laughing. “You all kill each other!? I’ve seen people being left behind, but da-“

“Shut the fuck up!” Yui yelled at him, ignoring the chuckles he tried to contain. “Listen, (Y/n). Sorry isn’t enough to cut it, but I should’ve admitted to my mistakes. I was weak, I deserve to be where I am now.”

“Yui, I’m just glad to know the truth. It’s fine..!”

“Killing people isn’t fine, (Y/n). No where near it. I’m no better than the asshole sitting next to me.”

“Thank you.” Ghostface chirped.

Yui ignores him. “There’s no excuse for what I did. But, I promise you the second time you were killed, it wasn’t me.”

(Y/n) believes her. Sure her emotions took a deep stab at the truth, she doesn’t think things between her and Yui will ever be the same. Just like with her and Claudette. But, (Y/n) could feel the guilt emanating from Yui, at the same time, she felt guilty as well. It was ultimately her actions that got her to where she is in the first place, and she’s still kind of doing it. One generator, then not being seen for the rest of the trial to hold her weight nor be aggressive is not enough.

Should she change her ways, is the question. Having time to do more generators and be active, but also making time to find new things.

“I believe you.” (Y/n) stated. Although there’s a new mystery, she was getting closer to the truth.

“You do? Well, can I ask you of something?”

“Of course!”

“.. Be wary of Jake.”

_. . . What?_

“B-but why?”

Yui gave a sigh, wishing to lean back against something now. This wouldn’t be very easy to explain.

“Just be careful. I’m not saying this out of spite, but the way he’s so.. the way he acts around you and everyone else, it doesn’t look right to me.”

Ohh.. (Y/n) did not like hearing that. “He’s just protective, that’s all.”

“Or you’re gullible and too forgiving.”

“Yui..”

“I’m not sorry.”

(Y/n) groaned, deciding to never argue with the racer once her mind is made up. 

“But, I am sorry for betraying you. How do I make it up to you?”

(Y/n) could still feel Yui’s hand on her back, the nice fabric of her jacket, the warmth of her concerns. Yeah, she’s done enough. “Mm.. you already did.”

Yui scoffed. “I’ve forgotten that you’re crazy.” 

They both had a nice chuckle. In front of the Ghostface, whose body language and posture screamed that he’s bored. Too many fluffy, sappy shit going on. He was really hoping for the two to fight and claw at each other, his camera was more than ready for it. Now it sits, cold.

“You two are boring.” He comments.

“Ohh my god, you’re still here!?” Yui growls, glaring at the man.

“Always been. Why are you two still here? As a matter of fact-“ the Ghostface stood up, looking back and forth to the auras of the exit gates. “Where are your teammates? The gates ain’t even open.”

He.. had a good point. Though, (Y/n) quickly figures that David and Dwight were going around, finding and cleansing the totems, or opening chests to see what items they could take with them.

“Don’t worry about them, Dwight knows where we are. I think.” Yui slips her hand into (Y/n)’s, helping the tired woman up onto her feet. The racer places her other hand on (Y/n)’s chest, keeping her steady. “Come on, lets go and get away from this bastard.” Yui gestures to the Ghostface, who only shrugged.

“You’re welcome for letting you live.”

“Thanks, I don’t appreciate it.” Yui deadpans and leads (Y/n) to an exit gate, not even glancing at the Killer behind them.

“Hey. You said thanks.” 

**_ Close _ **

The world around them shook, collapsing and disappearing into their usual, burnt orange particles. At the exit gates stood Yui, (Y/n), and the Ghostface. The trio chatting happily away, waiting for the world timer to reach near it’s end and-

“Stop fucking following us around like a lost puppy!” Yelled Yui.

“I got nothing else to do, just deal with it.” The Ghostface replied, calmly.

“Go over to the shack and stand there. There! You got something to do!”

“That’s boring, I’d rather kill people for the monster or whatever.”

“What’s stopping you now? Huh?”

“You two grew onto me.”

“You’re sick.”

“No shit.”

Yui scoffed, turning around and about to walk out of the trial. “Are you coming, (Y/n)?” 

(Y/n) jumped, not expecting to be spoken to. “I will! Just um-“ She paused, gaze settling on the Ghostface now. “Give me just a second, please. I wanna talk to him.”

“With that creep?! .. ugh.” Yui mumbles something angrily in Japanese, but stood by them. “I’m watching you, ghostie.”

The Ghostface chuckled, noting how she insults him at every chance she gets, it was quite fun for him. The sneaky killer then turns to (Y/n), arms crossing across his chest lazily. “I’m waitiing.” He cooed.

(Y/n) nodded, questioning her decision on this. “Why didn’t you kill us?”

“I’m bored.” The Ghostface answered in a beat. But, (Y/n) wasn’t happy with that. 

“You said something about reading the fine print. Danny.”

He sighed. He just had to get all riled up, huh.

“Yeah, my name’s Danny. I’m a murderer, here and in the real world. I’m more infamous in the real world than I am here, though. Ten or more people afraid of me in this world, doesn’t compare to the millions of people that locked their homes, because of the thought of me.”

(Y/n) winced. He seemed very proud of his.. job, she thought.

Danny continues. “I was offered the luxury of killing you people for an eternity. At first I was like, “whoa!”, but then.. seeing your faces one too many times, I realized I was getting no where with my murders. I also found out that I didn’t like doing the killing for -ahem- someone.”

The Entity, (Y/n) figured. 

Yui spoke up. “Going by your own rules, eh? Well there’s one good thing about you.”

“Aawww, thank yooouu. You’re so sweee-“

“Shut up!” Yui snapped, averting her eyes from him.

The Ghostface snickered, snaking his head. “See? That’s how you put people like her in their place.”

“Danny.. Leave her alone.” (Y/n) said to the man, not amused by this.

It was Yui’s turn to snicker. “Looking stupid right n-“ The world collapses further, telling the two women to get out now or be sacrificed. 

“Come on, (Y/n). Let’s not feed it. Or feed into _him_.” Yui pointed dismissively to Danny. Turning around and leaving the trial.

(Y/n) nodded, watching as Yui left. (Y/n) looked over at the Ghostface. “Thank you.”

Danny hummed, taking a step closer to (Y/n). His hand rose to his white mask, as if to scratch something, but the man decided against it. “We’re not friends. Little Miss (Y/n).”

“Of course. You like killing people.”

“And you’d do best not to forget that.” He stepped closer again. And before (Y/n) could step back, she was shoved harshly out of the trial grounds, right before the Entity’s claws could have a taste of her blood and soul. 

Both Danny and (Y/n) watched as the flower-like claw pierced nothing except it’s own particles and the air. Upon finding no flesh, Danny and the world around him disappeared into dust, leaving nothing but the dull-maroon plains surrounding (Y/n). 

. . . 

Yui and (Y/n) appeared back at the campfire, no wounds, no severe injuries. Healthy and back in their own clothing.

No one greeted them, except Jake who looked at them with furrowed eyebrows. He wanted to say something, (Y/n) knew, but the man instead patted a spot next to him at the campfire for (Y/n).

(Y/n) looked to Yui, who kept the same, serious face with a piercing stare. She was a hardened street-racer after all, beautiful and illustrious in her own right to some. Some of the campers actually knew her, even before arriving in this realm.

Instead of walking away to be in her own place, Yui instead made her way over to Jake. This surprised (Y/n). She raised an arm to say something and stop her, but Yui beat her to the punch. 

“I’m watching you, Park.”

Jake threw a glare at the woman, composure unwavering as ever. “S’there a problem?” They sat there, just killing each other with the scowls on their faces. 

Yui broke it off first. “How’d you figure that out?” She said sarcastically.

“What’s your problem with me, Yui?”

(Y/n) stepped in, the tension in the air becoming nerve-wracking. “Can we-“

“Nothing! None of your business. I’m just watching you.”

(Y/n) breathes a sigh of-

“You think I’m a murderer?” Jake stood up now, never taking his vicious stare off the blonde woman in front of him.

“Funny, funny. Reeeally funny that you mention that.”

“You’re implying it.”

“You’re paranoid!” She yelled, getting tilted now.

(Y/n) tried to remain calm. “Yui-“

“You’re the one pointing fingers and screaming at people.” Jake started, smirking as if he’s messing with her. “Maybe you’re just frustrated that you can’t get away with killing people any-“

“Jake!” (Y/n) yelled this time, drawing the survivalist’s attention to her. “Please, can we go..? I’m a little tired from our trial.” She also wants them stop arguing, but she’s truly tired. Though the injuries are gone once a camper appears back at the campfire, they’re still able to feel mentally drained.

Jake eyed (Y/n) for a bit, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple. “Let’s go.” He turned around and headed towards his tent.

“This isn’t over, despicable asshole.” Yui spat after him, turning away to go to her own tent instead, grumbling something to herself. (Y/n) wanted to say something towards that insult, but refused to fuel the already doused fire.

Instead, she followed after Jake. 

They reached his tent, the man crouching down and opening it up for her. (Y/n) pulled off her shoes, setting them down neatly, then crawled in and sat down, relaxed now that she’s in a safe space. She watched Jake come in as well, zipping the tent shut. (Y/n) sees him remove his scarf and jacket, leaving him in his turtleneck, toothpaste colored shirt. He used the green jacket to wrap it around (Y/n).

He pulled (Y/n) closer with the jacket, the action making her giggle a little. The woman looked up to see Jake’s face, only to also see.. that he was glaring at her.

Uh oh..

“Y-yes, Jake?”

“I think you’re trying to piss me off.” He said, not angrily, but just about.

She blinked, but looked at him sheepishly. “.. I’m sorry. I just, needed to hear it from them. You know..?”

“Yeah, because murderers admit their wrong-doings. Nice.” 

Yui did. Checkmate.

(Y/n) couldn’t let him know that though, or else she’ll never see Yui again.

“I’m allowed to know, Jake.”

“You are. Did you find answers?”

“I did!” She replied, frustrated now.

“Good, good. Now stay away from them.” Jake pulled closer, looking at his jacket now.

“Jake..”

“Unless I’m there.”

Wait. Wha?

“R-really?”

“Mmhm.” He leaned in and pecked her lips. 

(Y/n).. was baffled to say the least, but felt happy nonetheless. “Jake..! Thank you. I know you’re worried and that means a lot me.. I’m sorry for stressing you out.”

“Are you? Are you really?” He gave his signature, teasing grin.

“Yes!” (Y/n) leaned forward, taking her rightful place on his lap and against his chest. Jake took this opportunity to wrap his arms around her, his big jacket hugging her form as well. 

(Y/n) closes her eyes and breathes out a sleepy hum. “I love you, Jake.”

Jake wore his stoic, unreadable expression. Rocking them slowly with (Y/n) in his lap. “I love you too.” And just like that, the look went away. Exchanged with a loving glint in his eyes that (Y/n) also couldn’t see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two Chapters will be from Jake’s perspective. Mainly to involve different characters, but to also give more insight on things.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	9. The Mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake becomes closer to the Entity.
> 
> He also explores his relationships with a couple of people.
> 
> Warning: Smut in this Chapter.

**_Cherishing _ **

Jake never thought he would’ve ended up like this.

But life, even in the Entity’s realm, has a way of surprising you. When he first arrived at the campfire, he vowed not to involve himself with Dwight and Meg. Soon Claudette when she came along. He fought so hard to survive and get away from society, that he felt insulted that he had to rely on others for his very own survival. Surely, he couldn’t do five generators by himself with a bloodthirsty Killer on the loose, but he sure as hell would try.

It never ended well. Eventually, he agreed to team up, but still separated himself from the team whenever he got the chance. He didn’t even want them near his tent and irked when they looked at him, especially his tools. Possessiveness has always been Jake’s flaw, but a flaw he was proud of. He was also a loner, a survivalist, he wanted to live with Mother Nature and along with her breathtaking kingdom. He didn’t need to associate himself with other people. Not after the life he had before he dropped out and ran away from home. He didn’t want to befriend anyone.

However, Claudette changed most of that. Meg avoided Jake and Dwight, timid as ever, at least got him to work together, but Claudette actually had the patience to get to know Jake.

And boy did they have a lot in common. Nature lovers, introverts, extremely skilled with surviving on their own. The only difference between the two is that Claudette accepted society and was academically studious, whereas Jake rejected people as a whole and threw away his privilege. 

When they became friends though, Jake started opening up to other people. He respected Meg and befriended Dwight, but no more than them with the exception of Claudette. His best friend, someone he viewed as his true family. Jake needed no one else, but the three.

Surprisingly, THAT also changed when (Y/n) came along. Jake didn’t think much of her then, to him she was just another woman who, thankfully, minded her own business. She was in her own little world, ignoring the objectives to do some of her own. Jake could respect that, though at the time he did wished she helped the team out, but never bugged her about it.

So, what happened? 

Jake became curious. He started growing bored of doing the same things and following Dwight’s instructions, but did them anyway. However, when he’d done enough in the trial, the man would go find (Y/n) and see what she was doing. She cried and shoos him away, but that didn’t stop him from pursuing the woman.

And if there’s one decision he knows he’ll never regret: it’s becoming friends with (Y/n). In a matter of questionable, but unique adventures and he started crushing on her, then fully pursued in making (Y/n) his.

And his alone. Again, Jake loved what was his.

Even right now, he was connecting with (Y/n) again and all he could think is how much she belonged to him. How much she willingly gave herself to him without any questions. The site was sleeping and they were both nude in Jake’s tent. Thankfully far away from the site.

Jake’s tent.. (Y/n) left her own little home to live at his.

The woman crouched above his lap, facing him, body hot, face reddened with embarrassment and from her love for the saboteur. Jake watched with hidden glee as (Y/n) grabbed his hard member and lowered herself onto Jake with a sensual whine. No doubt feeling good with his cock inside of her.

Jake leaned a bit forward to squeeze her soft bum with both hands, giving a light grope before he squeezed again and spreads her ass. Making the woman on his lap squirm before him. The woodsman could tell she wanted to focus on riding him, especially as she began to move up, watching as her dampened pussy squeezed his dick.

_No_.

Jake grabbed her sides and brought her down, eliciting a bewildered moan from (Y/n)’s throat. The messy haired man rubbed her back and rested his face on her chest, burying his face in her breasts. She smelled so good, soft and sweet with a hint of something metallic, but that didn’t matter. Jake held her there, his erection inside of her throbbing. He wanted to feel her this way, more intimately before they got lost in the pleasure.

He could tell (Y/n) was beginning to feel it too. Not the pleasure, just the intense intimacy of being tied to one another. The woman stopped squirming in protest and hugged him around his shoulders and neck, shaking arms struggling a bit to do so.

“I love you so much, Jake..” She says in that beautiful voice of hers.

“I love you too. Fuck, I love you so much, (Y/n).” He breathed, holding her for a bit longer before he decided to move her. With his hands surrounding her sides, Jake began lift and bounce (Y/n) on his cock, drinking and relishing in every naughty noise she made. Because of him.

All for him.

(Y/n) was flawed in every way Jake needed her to be: Distracted, desperate, gullible, her emotions were easily influenced. And he loved it. What he didn’t like however, is how she wanted more friends. “Friends”, the people who rejected her. The same people that’ll probably pretend to be friendly, once she and Jake finds a way out of the Entity’s prison.

She didn’t need them, she only needed him. 

Jake squeezes (Y/n) in a hug around her waist and gave harsh thrusts after thrusts into her sex, bringing his nearly crying woman closer to orgasm. He nipped painfully at her skin, creating red and purple marks on her to let everyone know who she belongs to. Jake bit up his way to her breasts, her chest, her neck, finally slowing his movements to bring (Y/n) down for a kiss. He watched her pleasure induced daze, as she returned the kiss without hesitation.

A bit more. He needed more.

Jake stopped and pulls out, causing (Y/n) to whine as she looked at him with bleary eyes. 

“Jake..”

Jake only snickers at her.

“Wait.”

Still holding (Y/n), he guided her to have her back facing him. On her knees, Jake holds up (Y/n)’s hips while gently pushing her face down. They’ve never tried this position before, Jake could see everything she stuck out to him. He took her legs and spreads them further, seeing as her nearly dripping pussy clenches from his touch. The man squeezes her ass again, holding them apart as well before he lined himself at her entrance.

Only.. he didn’t enter. He just nudged, teasingly.

“Jake..!” (Y/n) bashfully tries to push herself against his member, but Jake held her still.

“What?” He responded as innocently as he could, holding back any tone of amusement.

“Jake, could you..”

“Could I, what?”

She hummed, emphasizing what she wanted with her hips. “C-could you please move?”

“Specifics, (Y/n). Use your words.” He nudged her entrance again, raising a hand to pat her ass twice, grabbing it once he pats it a third time. “Move where? Away from you? Why didn’t you say s-“

“N-no..! Don’t move- Don’t move away!” (Y/n) quivers, legs trembling in need as she tried to calm down. She’s still isn’t used to dirty talk, but she’s trying. “I need you, please. I-I want to feel you inside of me again, Jake.. I need to feel your cum inside me, I need you to make me cum Jake, please I-!” She gasped, feeling him push himself in her pussy.

“Good.” Jake breathed, burying his dick further into (Y/n), who moaned loudly for him. Once he was fully sheathed he started to move, gripping the woman’s hips painfully. Jake pulled out until only the tip remained inside, then pounded himself back in in repetitive, long strides. He watched and felt (Y/n) react to him, her body tensing and tightening. 

Just a bit more.

He moved one of his hands over to her clitoris, rubbing the bud in circular motions and effectively stimulating (Y/n) as he continued to slam himself into her sex. Within seconds he heard a desperate cry of his name. Jake felt (Y/n)’s walls squeeze tightly around his dick, seeing her coating his member again with her fluids, as a sign of him bringing her to orgasm.

“Fuck..” Jake groaned and cursed, thrusts becoming a little sloppy. He didn’t even stop once he came, hearing (Y/n) sob in pleasure and overstimulation as he fucked his cum deeply inside her pussy.

Eventually though, he slowed his movements. Coming to a stop and catching his breath, allowing (Y/n) to catch hers as well.

Kind of.

With playful smirk, Jake rose a hand and brought it down hard on her ass, hearing her yelp.

“J-Jake!”

“What? You want more?” He deadpanned.

“No! I want-.. can we cuddle..?”

_Of course_. 

Jake slowly pulled himself out of (Y/n), ogling his seed dripping out of her hole for a moment. Tearing his eyes away from the erotic sight, he turned (Y/n) and pulled his woman closer to him. Jake lies down as he set her on top of him. Just how she likes it.

(Y/n) lies her head on his chest, smiling peacefully now. 

“You happy now?” Jake asked.

She holds back a laugh. “Why do you always ask me that..?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Are you really gonna make me say it?”

(Y/n) turns her head to look at him. A mischievous little smile on her face. “Yes.”

_Oh boy.._

“I love seeing you happy. It’s as simple as that, you dummy.”

She giggled, lying her head down again. 

Jake chuckled along, pecking the top of her head. “.. You happy now?”

“I’m very happy.” (Y/n) replies with content.

Yeah.. he will cherish this woman.

**_ Reunited  _ **

It’s blight month. 

Jake was dressed accordingly: wearing circular, purple glasses and a black mask. His outfit consists of a long-sleeved uniform shirt with a grey-ish, blue vest over it and brown gloves. He wore grey pants with a white apron and brown boots. The man carried a satchel over his torso with small equipment and empty glass vials.

He was ready to harvest the blight and extract the substance for safe use, like so many times before. Except.. this time, he came with more knowledge. Like the book “Vigo” mentioned, he can create a serum that frees people from the Void.

While Jake would focus on attempting to make a serum for them, it wouldn’t change anything except make room for more souls to enter. The only option would be to make the serum for himself, should he get thrown in the Void for whatever reason.

Then, Jake will attempt to make a serum to use for escaping this world all together and go back to Earth. The formula couldn’t be much different from.. from.. 

Fuck it, he’s calling it the Void Serum now.

It couldn’t be much different from the Void Serum, since both are related to escaping from a certain place. It should work, Jake assumed. But, if didn’t he’d just keep trying until it did. Though, he wouldn’t push himself too hard and end up looking something like the Blight. Jake at least wanted to keep his jaw.

With this in mind, he got ready for his trial. He was going without (Y/n) but he’ll manage, he needed to trust her more anyways or he’d risk their relationship falling apart.

Falling apart.. Jake felt himself grow sick at that thought. 

. . . 

Jake appears in the trial alone. Short, messy hair moving with the wind as he finds himself on a snowy platform with an abandoned building in the middle. 

Ormond.

The woodsman moves immediately, finding a generator and began working on repairing it to life. He listened for any sounds and looked around occasionally to spot the killer before they spot him. 

Jake recalls who appeared in the trial with him: There was Adam, Meg, and Claudette. Most of the quartet were here and that almost always meant an easy escape. With Legion being their killer as of now, Meg could outrun him for as much as she can, buying time for the rest of them to do generators. The only issue is that they remain injured mostly throughout the trial. Thankfully, both Claudette and Adam are here. 

Jake is half-way done with a generator when he heard his heart-beat becoming louder. Seeing the leader of the Legion running at him in a frenzy.

Scary.

Jake casually continues to repair the generator, up until the young man drags his knife across Jake’s sides, quickly spilling his blood as the weapon dug deeper into the wound. Jake got up and ran away as the Legion himself ran away, allowing the Survivor to mend his wounds with strips of his clothing. Jake tore the sleeve off and bandaged himself as good as he can. With time, the wound stopped bleeding and Jake goes to finish his generator.

Seems like the kid isn’t pressuring them enough.

Jake thought to himself, repairing the generator again and ignoring the sharp pain in his torso. In twenty seconds the generator was repaired along with another one in the distance, the middle of the old house ahead. 

Perfect. The Legion must be chasing Meg.

Jake limped away to find the Pustulas now. He had time to extract one, maybe two, then find a generator to repair. If Meg were to go down, he’d knew Adam would come to the rescue so Jake gained a peace of mind for that.

Eventually, the man found a flower. Glowing, oozing more blight, sitting there and being disgustingly pretty. The flowers were huge, surprising Jake as the month wasn’t even near it’s peak yet, but oh well, he’ll take what he can get. He stooped down, grabbed an empty vial, and began to extract the serum from the gruesome flower.

The flower began to shrivel a teeny bit with each, bright serum forced out of it. It squealed and squished itself, retracing itself from being attacked any further. Jake got lost in the revolting noise, unable to catch Claudette arriving on the other side of the Pustula. 

“Hey.” She spoke, getting Jake’s attention. The bespectacled, dark-skinned woman had her hair tied into a bun. She wore a blouse with puffy sleeves, an apron, and long gloves. Her outfit was completed with dark pants and boots, all there to protect her from getting blight on her skin. It was an extremely formal look.

“Hey.” Jake replies, going back to focus on filling the vial with the rest of the serum. 

“We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes. We do, Jake. Why are you so dismissive?”

“Because now’s not a good time to talk.” The man said, standing up and finishing his task. He clips the vial back to the band of the satchel and looks to Claudette. “I’ll wait until you’re done.”

Baffled, the medic just went back to getting her share of the Pustula, her focus away from Jake. The man leaned against a nearby wall, shaped like an “L” with one open window. It was a weak wall without the “T” to accompany it, but it did well to hide them from the Killers sometimes.

When Claudette finished, she places her vial in the pouch of her apron, then turns to Jake. “Are you ready to talk now? Also.. need some medical attention?”

“Mm.. It’s nothing, I’ll be fine. He’ll just come back and leave anyways. Let’s talk.” The man adjusted his glasses briefly, still getting used to having them for the month.

Claudette nodded. “I’ll be blunt. We should start over, Jake. Our friendship, it’s strained because you believe something that’s not true. You’re holding a grudge against me that isn’t supposed to be there.”

Jake almost wanted to laugh. He’s lucky to have a mask covering his face. “I never said I believed it.” He started, slowly becoming serious now. “I’ve never intended for you to be outed like that or for someone to find out. You were my friend, Claudette.” It was true, despite his intentions, he never wanted anyone to know. He knew this would be the result.

But, did he regret it?

“W-well it happened!” The botanist snapped. “And you still have no proof! And if she believes me, why don’t you? You’re the only one here making it more of a problem between us than it has to be!” Deep, shaky breath. “L-look. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, okay? You’re important to me, you were my first real friend! Do you know much it hurts when you stay-”

Jake stayed silent, blocking out the woman venting to him. Well.. she was right. If (Y/n) was able to forgive her, why shouldn’t he? Why didn’t he? Truth be told, he also didn’t want to lose Claudette as a friend, but.. it would ruin something he had going on now. He needed Claudette to be angry with him, or else things probably wouldn’t turn out well.

... Eh. Jake had Yui, and they’ll never be friends. He knows thi-

“Jake! Are you even listening to me!?”

Oh, right.

“Yeah. I am. Look Claudette, I’m sorry.”

The medic blinked, tears noticeably running down from her eyes, dropping down her chin when a generator roared in the distance. 

Jake lazily continues. “I was being over-protective and ignorant, implying that you did something wrong while having no grounds. You don’t deserve to be treated like shit.. I’m sorry, I do hope we can be friends again.”

A pause.

“.. O-oh! Uh.. of course of course, that’s what I came here for.. You really are sorry?”

“Have you ever heard me lie?” 

“No. N-no I don’t think I have, unless we count the time you scared Dwight, telling him that the Killer was stalking us at the camp.”

“Ah.. the look on his face. He tried to be brave though, so I’ll give him credit for that.”

“Heh..” Claudette laughed and hiccups, taking off her glasses and drying the tears. “You’re stupid.. you really are stupid.”

Jake.. smiled genuinely under his mask. “I know.” 

. . .

The two were working on a generator together, chatting their mouths off. Jake has to admit, he did miss her. They agreed to slowly rekindle their friendship, and Jake felt more than happy to do so. She was, after all, partially responsible for the way he is now, so he had her to thank for that. 

But, that still didn’t deter him. He needed to rile things up a bit, but how?

“I think you can do it, Jake.” Claudette spoke.

“Nah. I’m not smart enough for all of that.”

“No, you just think you’re not smart enough. Try it.”

“I’ll think about it, I’ll think about it. You’ll get it right before I do, though.”

“Ohh, you flatter me.”

They were talking about the fog, who would get to control it first. They had everything they needed, the blight, the serum, now’s the time to strike while the iron is hot.

Er.. while the Entity is weak.

Just as Jake was about to respond, Adam approaches to help them finish the generator. 

“Adam!” Claudette chirps.

“Hello, how are you two holding up over here?” The teacher spoke, adjusting his coat before grabbing the wires.

Claudette responded eagerly. “Oh we’re fine! We were just talking about the fog a-and stuff. How are you? Are you hurt? I saw you go over and get Meg to-“

Jake cut them out, laughing to himself at the way Claudette had her attention fully on the man before them. 

So.. Adam Francis, hm? 

The Jamaican man did seem fitting for her, he was smart and the only person who understood Claudette’s.. different way of learning. Although they had only one thing in common, they were different. Adam was more sociable, serious, level-headed, and all around out-going. As a knowledgeable professor, he should be. Claudette, being the opposite and more of a mother than a teacher, was naturally drawn towards such a personality. 

It was adorable, Jake admitted. The woman didn’t do a good job of hiding any feelings she had for the teacher. Adam on the other hand, Jake knew somewhere Claudette made it into the teacher’s heart.

Now, if they would just admit it..

CHING! 

One more generator to go. The Legion must really have it out for Meg.

“There’s another one just up ahead.” Adam pointed out and started walking, Claudette following behind and still talking with the teacher.

One day. Jake told himself, smiling. One day she’ll confess to the teacher.

Jake didn’t follow the two, no sense in being a third wheel right now. Besides, he had other things to do. He turned away and went the opposite direction in search of where the fog is most potent.

**_ Learning _ **

And there it is. Literally a patch of fog just floating there, vibrating between Jake’s gloved fingers. It reacted strongly to the blight on the fabric, growing bigger and darker than before. 

Jake was gentle with it, like it was a small, stray animal that got lost or the owner threw away to avoid spending more money on the poor thing. The fog was surrounding the woodsman’s hand, hugging it almost. When Jake tried to pull away it earnestly followed, afraid to let go. In that moment, the fog reminded him of (Y/n).

He smiled.

The survivalist pinched his glove and began to pull it off, testing to see if the fog had just wanted the blight on his gloves. Despite being in different forms, they were still technically the same, being consequences of the Entity.

The fog reacted. Clinging onto the glove, but then it shrugged away. As if it was disgusted by what Jake tried to give to it. Jake shook briefly with laughter. 

The mist roamed around Jake, finding his uncovered hand and hugging it again. It felt cold, dusty, rumbling with life. It was alive, Jake noted. Alive indeed. The man watched as the mist rolled up on his arm, covering his body and some of his vision. If Jake had been the same person he was since coming here, he would’ve been afraid. But he wasn’t afraid, he was calm, cozy, he felt no harm coming from the smoke-like cloud.

As if sensing this, the fog drifted away from Jake’s body and into his right hand, causing Jake to open his palm for it. The fog complies, rolling itself into a small, hurricane-like shape then morphing itself into a soft ball. 

Jake blinked. What was it doing? Was it trying to tell him something?

The little ball shook, vibrated, nearly freezing Jake’s bare hand. It was starting to become unbearable, but he forced himself to withstand it. He was NOT about to miss out on whatever this open opportunity is.

Just when Jake felt as though his fingers were about to be inflicted with frostbite, the fog dissipated. Disappeared and formed into dust that was now falling from his hand.

Knife.

In his hand lies a knife, a hunting knife to be exact. It reverberated with the same energy the fog gave and Jake couldn’t help, but to feel familiar with the weapon. Looking at it closely now.

Where has he seen this? Why did it bring him such an unsettling feeling? Why did-

The horn blared in the distance. It was time to leave.

Jake immediately opted to find hatch. He couldn’t go out and let everyone see what he was carrying. Not yet, anyways. With a deep breath, the man turned away from his spot to find the black lock, looking at his hunting knife now, shining in the life.

He stopped suddenly in his tracks. Listened to it. 

And acted.

. . .

Jake settled in his tent. Mask and glasses still on as he inspected the serum he held in a vial. He would have to go through a number of tests so he could get the Void Serum. It was going to take time and maybe some help from some people, but he was willing to do it. 

The saboteur snapped out of his thoughts. Hearing some yelling and shouting outside of his tent. 

Oh yeah. Meg didn’t make it out. 

She mysteriously died with a brutal stab wound to the back of her head, instantly killing her on the spot without spotting her killer. It didn’t make sense because the Legion didn’t bring a Mori, he brought some weird ass pudding with eyeballs and fingers in it. Meg started pointing fingers at Claudette first, but when Adam stepped in as her witness and claimed that Claudette was with him the whole time, the red-head backed off. He also brought up the fact that Claudette and Jake made up, solidly confirming that she wasn’t a murderer after all this time.

They didn’t even mention Jake being a potential suspect. It was amazing.

After that, Meg started going off about the Killers breaking the Entity’s rules. “He chased me around the whole time and couldn’t get me. He was probably pissed! Hah!” And that’s where the group was now, making theories and arguing with each others points. 

It was beautiful, Jake thought to himself. 

The man sighed and needed to small break now, though. He lies down and looks over to the spot where (Y/n) should be, feeling empty that she was gone. She’s currently in a trial, hopefully doing well with the blight around. 

He can wait. He will wait.

Jake reached for his hunting knife, looking at the clean weapon reflecting off what light it could reach. It was little dirty, a smudge of blood on it.

_Whoops_.

Jake will clean it off later, though. Right now, he wanted to nap and wait for his other half to get here. He shoves the weapon into his brown satchel, zipping it shut before closing his eyes. 

The argument outside continues, playing as soothing music to his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly, but surely getting there.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	10. Addiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake meets a wise, old man.

**_ Therapeutic  _ **

It was kill, after kill, after kill for Jake.

The campfire no longer pointed fingers at Yui for being responsible for their deaths, as she died mid-trial without the Killer getting their hands on her. Oh no, they’ve blamed whoever seemed just a tiny bit suspicious. Jake was one of them of course, the people who had their eyes on him were David, Jeff, and let’s not forget about Yui.

It was amazing. They were fighting with each other, tarnishing their relationships, keeping distance from one another except the people they held close. And whenever Jake got bored, wanted to go and stir up some drama, he’ll just kill someone. Boom. Fight ensues.

It was that easy!

The only thing he had to do is stop himself from getting caught. With no solid proof, they couldn’t make a definitive decision on who was the imposter, and this. That. That has changed the most important people around the site.

Dwight Fairfield, more notably. He was Jake’s leader, everyone’s lovable leader. Though a bit of a scaredy-cat, he knew how to keep himself and others alive, he knew how to bring out the best in people and make them work efficiently as a team. This very same leader who brought his campers to success was losing his mind.

Yep, Dwight was going crazy with helplessness and Jake could only bring himself to feel a little bad. Not enough for him to stop his schemes, but enough for him to feel pity for the office man. He started to wonder who else would be going crazy, who else would lose hope and have the possibility of being tossed into the-

“You’re thinking about the Void.”

Jake was silent, forgetting about the man who sat in seat beside him.

_Right_.

During one of his trials, Jake brought a key so he could escape and travel down the black lock. He left his team to do the rest of the generators by themselves, uncaring if they made it out or not. No one he cared about was there with him anyways.

Once he left the trial, the woodsman went on a lookout for the tower he and (Y/n) discovered long, long ago. Had Jake disregarded (Y/n)’s tears and feelings at the time, they would’ve never known about this tower.

That’s where Jake is now. After a while of busting and breaking the door down, he finally broke in the place and began to explore. Why did he come here? He just.. felt like it. Also, because something told him to be here right now.

The man scanned the place: It was archaic, old-fashioned and a bit rugged. The wood boards creaked in protest toward every step Jake took, dust scooted out of the way with just a small, swoop of wind. The place was filled with books, a giant library with thousands, possibly billions of books to read.

Claudette would adore this place, Jake thought to himself.

After about thirty minutes of just gawking at the place, Jake heard some light breathing and heavy footsteps other than his own. He immediately drew his hunting knife, ready to spill the blood of whoever dared tries to harm him.

One step. Two more. Three creaks. A final step and there he is. 

An old man.

At ease, Jake lowered his weapon. It was an old man with a glass of what looked like alcohol in his hand. Hell the elder even reeks strongly of alcohol, despite his formal appearance. Jake’s face scrunched up at the smell. 

“You’ve trespassed without permission, young man. You got what you deserved.” Murmurs the old man, his voice smooth and monotonous. The grayed man wore a suit and looked to be around his late forties or mid-fifties.

“You smell and look depressing.” Jake retorts, putting his knife away. The man also removes his purple glasses, having a better look at the elder. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Observer.”

“Real name?”

“That’s.. let’s saaay, redacted.”

“.. Fair enough. I’m Ja-“

“Jake Park, yes. I know.”

The saboteur blinked. “You know.. how?”

“I observe, Jake.”

“Uh-huh. So y’know everything? Like a god or something omnipotent or whatever.”

The old man shook the ice in his cup and Jake tried to ignore how the cup hovered above his hand, like the Observer was using telepathy to control it. “I know that you’ve loved your mother. I know that you left the luxurious life of riches to live on the outskirts, surviving all by yourself. You know, most people don’t have the gall to leave such a life handed out so graciously to them. To some, you’re an ungrateful child, Jake.”

Jake didn’t respond yet. He eyed the man suspiciously, thinking about whether or not he should get his knife. “Are you a god or no?”

“That’s a secret too.”

Jake breathes out a sigh. “Well. You said I’m an ungrateful child.” 

“Indeed.”

“What am I to you, then?”

The Observer eyed Jake up and down for a moment, then shook his cup again. Having a brief sip. “You’re a murderer. But, you’re not a slave.”

Jake hummed, he didn’t know what else to expect. “Of course I’m not a slave.”

“Ohh.. you don’t know what I’ve meant by that. Come, boy. Let’s talk.” The Observer turns and walks out of the room, disappearing behind a wall.

This brings Jake to where he is now. He learned from the old man that the books contained memories of over trillions of beings, from different worlds, to different universes. It was almost mind-blowing. Scratch that, it IS mind-blowing. Jake wondered if there were other versions of him across the universes. He actually contemplated if fates and destinies were even real. He gave it the benefit of the doubt, but the man would never restrict himself to such beliefs.

“Yeah. M’thinking about the Void, what of it?” Jake casually responded, pulling his black mask down to his neck.

“You don’t want people to go there.”

“No. I want them to escape from the Entity.”

“But, why have this mentality when you’re killing them?”

“Because, killing them is therapeutic.”

“If you make them lose hope, they won’t be able to go back home, Jake.”

“And see.. that’s where you’re wrong. You and I both know about Vigo.”

A moment of silence. Jake leaned against a wall with a cloudy window beside him. Watching a few survivors running towards the wall of the fog, having successfully escaped.

“Vigo is an incredibly, incredibly intelligent man.” Began the Observer.

“Yeah, he is. If he’s a human able to do the impossible, why should I worry about failure?”

“Because, you’ll become a monster like Mr. Grimes.”

“.. Who?”

“The Blight. His name is Talbot Grimes. He yearned to become someone like Vigo. He was desperate to escape the Void, but curiosity got the better of him. He failed and ruined himself instead.”

“I’m not trying to be Vigo.”

“I know. I’m saying you be careful with your.. experiments. And with your bloodlust.”

Jake held back a scoff. “You’re the Observer. You’re okay with watching me killing people..? I’d say you’re probably worse than the Entity.”

The Observer remained unfazed. “I observe, Jake. Don’t confuse it, we share the same goal: Freeing people of this world. Although..” A break. The man grabbed a bottle on the end-table beside him and poured more whiskey into his cup. “Do you think your lover would be happy with your bloodlust?” He asked, setting the bottle back down.

Jake irked inwardly. He was talking about (Y/n). “Don’t bring her into this.”

“If she found out, what would-“

The Observer’s cup flew out of his hand, the glass shattering into pieces and the freshly poured whiskey spilling onto the wooden floors, immediately soaking in. In front of the old man stood Jake with a hunting knife in hand, having a blank expression towards the Observer, whose hand began to bleed.

“I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t involve her in this.” He stated calmly. 

The Observer sat quietly in his seat, the wound on his hand already beginning to close up. In his other, a cup of whiskey formed and reappeared, hovering around in small circles.

“Very well.”

Jake moved away, going back to leaning against the wall and staring at the books. Speaking of (Y/n), he wondered where her memories are located.

... Nah. He’d rather just have her tell him.

“You should go back.” The Observer spoke, nose blind to the smell of whiskey becoming stronger, thanks to Jake’s sudden assault. “There’s nothing here for a murderer.”

Jake scoffed. “Actually, there is. Tell me what you know about the Entity.”

The old man grumbled. “.. it’s ancient.”

“And?”

“It’s evil.” The Observer smiled, the wrinkles and creases around his eyes becoming more visible.

“You’re not funny.” Jake said flatly.

“I wasn’t making an effort to amuse you, boy.”

“.. Tell me something important.”

“You’re a part of the Entity.”

_What?_

Before Jake could gather his thoughts for a response, the old man spoke again.

“Or rather, the Entity is a part of you. The day you absorbed the fog and it manifested into your hunting knife there, you became part of the.. problem. But, it cannot control you, it seems.”

So that’s what that was. Huh.

“Good.” Jake pushes himself off the wall, choosing to ponder the information given to him later. “I’m going. Don’t pass out and piss yourself drunk.”

The old man sighed, dreading being bored again. “Stay attentive, young man.”

**_ Chaos _ **

Jake materialized back at the campfire.

He couldn’t take one, proper breath of fresh air before he was immediately bombarded with panicked questions.

“Where have you been?!” Yelled Meg.

“Were you uh.. Were ya killed?” Ace asked, a lot calmer than Meg.

“I bet it was Dwight!” Shouted Feng. “I haven’t seen him all trial!”

“‘Ey fuck off! Don’t be pickin’ on the guy!” David defends Dwight and retorts to Feng Min, who quickly started an argument.

“Can we all just calm down!?” Jane tries to control the group.

_Wow_.

Jake rose gloved hand to rub his messy hair. Everyone just started arguing with each other. It took every nerve and bone in Jake’s body to not laugh, it was so hilarious. However, in the midst of viewing the calamity before him, a small, but strong hand grasped his shoulder. The man turned around to see Yui, painted in purple because of his glasses.

“Got a moment?” She asked, but gave off a demeanor that she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Depends.” Jake began. “Is (Y/n) here?”

“She’s in a trial.”

“Hm.. sure, I can talk.”

“Follow me.” Yui turned away, leaving the loud campsite and leading Jake to a more quiet area. Once they’ve reached there, she stopped and glanced at the man.

“Where were you?”

“Why?”

“It took you too long to come back to the camp, that’s why.”

Jake paused, pulling his mask down so he could speak properly. “Keeping tabs on me now?”

“Gotta make sure you’re not out here killing my friends.”

Jake lips jerked into a smirk. “Oh really? You mean the same people who called you a killer?”

“They had their reasons!” Yui growls.

“Yui, I bet they would throw you under the bus when given the chance.”

“You don’t know them! Haven’t you avoided people like the plague, except your quartet? You never gave anyone you weren’t interested in a chance!”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t observe.” Observe? Shit. He really did spent too much time in that tower.

“You can still be wrong.”

“Oh, definitely.”

Yui breathed in. Trying to calm herself down.

“Back to the question. Where the hell were you when your team came back? And why did you leave them behind?”

Jake sighed, visibly annoyed. “Yui, I can’t come back unless the Entity wills it. You know that, right?”

“You also have a choice to go through the wall!” 

“And I did.” He lied, but said it so surely it was hard to distinguish from truth or lie.

“.. I don’t believe you.”

Damn, she’s persistent. “What do you think I did, then?”

“I just think you’re hiding something from us.” Yui claimed, hands balled into fists. Ready to strike Jake if he said something stupid.

“Because, the Entity decides to let me back later than the others? What? Did someone die?”

Her fists relaxed. “No, but-“

“Then why am I here?”

“Because you’re hiding something dammit! I know it! And don’t you fucking interrupt me.”

“So, lemme get this right.” The man clasps his hands together. “You think I’m hiding something because the Entity makes me come back late. Is that it?”

“Who knows, Jake? Maybe you’re working with the bitch!”

“Riiight.”

... Silence.

Checkmate.

Jake assumed she tried to get him to admit to something accidentally. Either that, or she just realized how utterly outlandish she sounds.

Jake broke the silence. “You done?” 

“.. Asshole.” Yui only glares at him and leaves the quiet area, leaving Jake alone.

. . . 

He arrives back at the site, seeing that everyone has calmed down. David and Jane was consoling Dwight, Kate was singing beautifully to a sleeping Élodie and Feng, Claudette was chatting ecstatically with a blushing Adam, and Nea was trying to dupe Ace into giving her better items for a trial.

It was peaceful again. Jake needed it that way, for now.

Just as he began to sit down and relax on a log, four people appear in darkened dust at the camp. Jeff, Zarina, (Y/n), and Felix. The third one of the group looks around, no doubt getting used to her surroundings. Her eyes then land on Jake and she gives him the best smile he’s ever seen.

Jake pats a spot next to him, just like always. (Y/n) nearly skips over to sit next to him, just like always. She carefully takes a seat and lies her head on his shoulder. 

**_ Dubious  _ **

The woman tells the man of her troublesome trial with the Wraith. He was fast, she said. But, she somehow managed to escape on death-hook.

Jake wraps an arm around her.

“The Wraith has always been a weird one.” He states. “He was here when I arrived in the realm. He looked.. no, he seemed more alive than the other two Killers. Like he knew what he was doing, but didn’t want to do it.”

“Really? That’s.. that’s sad.” (Y/n) makes a saddened face.

“Yeah. It is. The Hillbilly is always angry. The Trapper, well, can’t really tell since he always wears a mask. But, I remember him letting us all leave a trial once, when it was just me, Dwight, Meg, and Claudette. After that though.. it was back to hooking people for him.”

“Wait..” (Y/n) looked at Jake, noticeably confused. “Why did he change..? Why did he go back to killing others?”

Jake shrugged nonchalantly. “My guess is he was punished. The next time we saw him after that trial, he was bloody and he had more metal sticking out of his back. He didn’t take it easy on us, ever since then.”

(Y/n) hummed, eyebrows furrowed upwards in thought. 

Jake sensed her forlornly demeanor and shrugging off his glove comically to poke her cheek. “Did you find anything?”

“Wha? Oh! I.. didn’t find anything.” She looked up at him again with a big smile. “I’m doing more generators now. Felix helped me with them, but we got them done on time.”

_... What?_

“Of course, I’m still looking for anything I can find. The last thing I’ve found was a photo a red-headed woman in a beautiful wedding dress. The Nurse didn’t come near me when I had it with me th-“

He blocked out her voice. What was she doing now and why? Jake didn’t like that. He didn’t like that other people were trying to change (Y/n).

He’ll make an example of Felix.

“Jake?”

“Hm, what?”

She giggled at him. “Aw, are you tired..? You look spent. Come on come on, let’s go to bed.”

“What? Mm.. yeah. Let’s go to sleep.” Jake briefly glances at the architect, soon standing up and holding his hand out to (Y/n). The woman took it, grabbing Jake’s discarded glove along the way up. 

The woodsman lead her to his tent, the tent still parked far away from the other campers. He couldn’t stop thinking about Felix Richter, the image of the man tainted in red filled Jake’s imagination. He’ll make sure the architect would never-

“Jake?”

The man stopped in front of his tent, glancing at (Y/n) over his shoulder, finding that she had a mischievous smile on her face.

“What?” He said a little harshly.

“You’re squeezing my hand.” (Y/n) feigned a pout, the playful expression never leaving her face. Jake reluctantly relaxed the hand holding hers, then lets it go completely to stoop down and open up the tent. “M’sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s alright. Sooo.. You’re not jealous, are you?” She said in her little giddy tone.

Oh how blissfully naïve she is.

Jake felt glad. “If I said no (Y/n), I don’t think you’d believe me.”

“Nope!”

He fought off a smile and just played along. “Fine fine. Yeah I’m a little jealous, now get in before I make you.” Jake watched as the already happy woman becomes even more happy, as she ducks down and crawls inside of the tent. 

Jake would follow, soon after taking off his mask, his satchel, and his vest and apron. Once his boots and glove are removed, he grabbed his satchel and settled comfortably in his tent. The man stared at (Y/n), the having their famous staring contest. Then, he felt a pair of hands touch his face, removing his glasses.

He groaned. “Mm, stop. I need to get used to them.”

(Y/n) folded the glasses neatly and sets them aside. “That doesn’t mean you should sleep on them. What if they break?”

“They’ve never broke in trials where I’d get my face axed in half by the Huntress, why the hell would they break over me sleeping on them?”

(Y/n) opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. 

“I-I have nothing, heh..”

“Phenomenal, right?” Jake slowly and comfortably lies down, setting the satchel above them. (Y/n) follows suit, looking into Jake’s brown, half-lidded eyes.

“You’re phenomenal.” She claims. Jake makes note that she’s in a playful mood.

“Yeah, no, that would be you sorry.”

“Wha? Um, no! If you’re not allowing me to think that I’m not beautiful, then I’m not allowing you to think that you’re not phenomenal.”

Jake’s chest rumbled with laughter. “Fine then.”

“Jaake. Say it.”

“Say wha- oh.. Nope. Going to sleep.” He turned his back to (Y/n), who quickly propped herself on his shoulder. She wasn’t giving up that easily.

“No, bad! Admit it.”

“Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll.. um. I’ll tickle and make you laugh.”

Jake body shook with small laughter again. “I’m not ticklish, so that’s a no-go for you.”

“Hmm..” (Y/n) rests her head on Jake’s shoulder, rubbing the somewhat expensive fabric of his white shirt with her thumbs and fingertips. “I still got you to laugh.” She cooed.

Ah, damn.

“Alright alright, fine. I’m phenomenal.” Jake said sleepily. He heard (Y/n) elicit a soft chuckle. “I’m glad you agree with me, Jake.” She kisses his cheek and pulled him now, making him face her before she lies down again.

Comes the peaceful sound of, you guessed it, silence. The distant flickering and cracking sound of the campfire made it’s way into tent, posing as a lullaby to Jake’s drowsiness. 

His breathing evened out. His muscles relaxed. 

He was almost there.

“... Knife.” Said a soft voice.

“Hm?” Jake replies in his half-awake state.

“A knife fell out of your purse.” (Y/n) sounded concerned. A knife? A purse? Wha-

Oh. Ohhhh.

Jake groaned again. Oh shit.

“Yeah.. I found it in a trial. Used it to defend myself.” It was a shitty lie, but not implausible.

“W-wait, I thought we couldn’t really hurt the Killers?”

“Surprises come and go, don’t they, (Y/n)?”

“Well..” 

And that was that. She didn’t say anything anymore, but Jake could sense the worry within the woman. “I’ll hide it.” Jake spoke tiredly. “So they won’t assume I’m a killer or something.”

“How.. h-how did you know I was thinking that?”

“I could almost taste it, (Y/n).”

She hummed. Jake felt the apprehension from her, but quickly replaced by comfort once she snuggled up against his chest. No more words. No more questions. Jake moves an arm around (Y/n) and intertwines his rough fingers in her hair, lightly scratching her scalp.

Dammit.. The Observer told him to be attentive, Jake thought. He’ll actually have to take that to heart then. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He’s kind of edgy here, huh?
> 
> The last of Jake’s perspective. Sort of, a bit will be scattered around here and there.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	11. Danny Johnson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments with the Ghostie.
> 
> That’s it. Kind of short (I think) and affectionate as usual.

**_ Neglectful  _ **

A gentle breeze flows through the Crotus Prenn Asylum, slithering it’s way through the cracks of the abandoned, Disturbed Ward with ease. It was quiet. Too quiet. No intense pressure had been made on the Survivors, especially not as some of them repaired generators, or looted chests, or cleansed totems. 

(Y/n) was in the Disturbed Ward, up stairs in a random, empty room. She was cleansing a totem, although it wasn’t a Hex, the pressure was low enough for all of the Survivors to take it easy. They just went about doing whatever they wanted, until the Killer says otherwise. They didn’t need to rush anything.

(Y/n) stopped cleansing the totem, watching in almost childish awe as the bones slowly put themselves back together, as if nothing had ever tampered with them in the first place. The woman started taking them apart, then stopped. They hovered back together again. It was both amusing and mesmerizing. 

Heh.

Heheh.

Cleanse. Stop. Hover. Cleanse. Stop. Hover. Cleanse. Stop. Hover. Clea-

“Ah!” (Y/n) yelped as she was grabbed, hoisted carelessly over a shoulder. In a blind panic she began struggling, kicking, hitting, biting, anything.

“Stop struggling, (Y/n). I’m not gonna kill you.” Said a familiar, annoyed voice. Deep and soothing, muffled lightly under a mask. The voice made (Y/n) stop and actually take a look at the man carrying her. Sure enough, he was wearing a dark-grey cloak, though with crimson accents instead of white this time. The torn, reddened strips of clothing on the back of his ensemble still floated, albeit a little lower than usual.

“Oh.. Danny I- Why didn’t you tell me you were here..? You didn’t have to scare me!” (Y/n) sighed and relaxed into the man’s shoulder, who began carrying her around the Ward like it was a normal thing.

“Getting sassy with me?” He patted the back of her calf with the hilt of his knife. “You’re the one who should pay more attention to what’s going on around you.”

She gulped. It was true, but she wasn’t about to back down. Sort of. “Sorry.. but, you still didn’t have to grab me.”

“Then pay attention and maybe I won’t grab you. Just because I’m not killing anyone yet, doesn’t mean you get comfortable.” He patted her calf again. “Sheesh.. with how easy it was to sneak up on you, I’m starting to feel neglected, (Y/n). Is this how you’re gonna treat your best friend Danny?” The Ghostface cooed and (Y/n) could practically hear the pretentious smirk in his voice.

... Wait.

“We’re friends now..?” She said with a little more hope than usual.

“Fuck no.” The Ghostface stops in a room and sets (Y/n) down on her feet. “Like I said: Don’t get too comfortable.” 

“Okay, okay.” (Y/n) straightens out her clothes, then looks around the room Danny carried her into. Like many other parts of the Asylum, it was old, torn, and dusty. The only difference is that this room is more cluttered than the others. A lot more cluttered with a door ripped off one of it’s hinges. (Y/n) never seen this room before, taken aback by the number of boxes sitting on top of a desk and the other filled boxes scattered around it.

“.. Where are we?”

“In an office with stuff we can steal. Never seen an office before?” Danny closed the door behind them, as much as the slightly broken door would allow. The man did not favor the idea of other people coming in and making the already compact office smaller. “Did your mommy and daddy shelter you, princess?” 

(Y/n) blinked. She never heard someone mention her family before. It was one of the things that were taboo around the campfire, mostly because sensitive subjects such as family often demotivated some people. Especially people like Meg and Nea.

(Y/n) wasn’t sure if the thought of her family demotivated her. She didn’t want to find out either. “No. No, they didn’t.” She murmured, stepping towards one of the filled boxes and began rummaging through it absentmindedly.

Danny trembled with laughter. “I think that means yes.” He said no more after that, as he started looking through the boxes as well, seeing what he could take with him. Hopefully some new clothes or something.

**_ Close to a Killer _ **

“Danny..?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve found a neat knife for you.” The man turned around and looked to (Y/n), who waved the handle of an awesome knife around with a playful smile.

This awesome utensil, broken in half with dull edges.

“Ooo, how kind of you.” The Ghostface said calmly, but sarcastically. “Wanna try it out with me and get stabbed with it? I’ll just force it in your lungs, it won’t hurt much.”

(Y/n) laughed nervously and places the useless weapon away. “S-sorry, I had to..!”

“Smart. Reeaal smart in front of a killer, (Y/n).” Said the dark voice, focused on finding something useful in his third box.

“I thought I should try something to make you laugh. You’re awfully quiet over there.” (Y/n) said solemnly, searching through her fifth box in a bored manner. So far, they only found a picture of a rather dashing man in a sleek tuxedo, a rusted wedding ring, some antique plates, and other throwback kitchen utensils. 

“Aaww why, are you bored?” He said condescendingly, stopping whatever he was doing to have a closer look at something.

“Hmm.. I am.” She admitted. “So far, all we found were wedding photos and items. Nothing really important to help us escape the Entity.”

The Ghostface turns to (Y/n). “Wait. You’re looking to escape the Entity?” His voice raises with sudden interest.

(Y/n) nodded. “Mhm!” She paused. She may as well tell him. “My friends and I already made progress. One of them is close to controlling the fog and the other is working on making an um.. a formula. Yeah, a formula to help us escape the Void and the Entity.” The woman pauses fiddling with the hem of her shirt. 

“Pffft! So you all finally came to your senses? That’s cute.” He shook his head, disregarding the embarrassed look on (Y/n). “But anyways, I want in on this.”

She gulped. “I don’t think they’re going to want you with us, Danny.”

“What? Oh no, no, no. I’ve been letting you all go and getting shit from the Entity for it, I bet your beating heart they’ll love me.”

“U-um.” (Y/n) places a hand over her heart defensively. “Yui won’t.” She said with a nervous giggle lacing her tone.

“Nonsense, yeah she-.. actually. Maybe you’re right on that. I’ll let you have that.”

“There’s no letting Danny, we both know about this. She may be strict, but she means well.”

The man goes back to searching the box. “We’ll get along someday. She hates me so much, I bet she’ll also love me. Also, I’m coming along no matter what.”

(Y/n) goes back to looting her box, finding another wedding ring. Images of Jake Park races through her mind, then the images of the hunting knife. The ring slips through the woman’s fingers, clattering loudly on the floor. “.. T-that’s fine, Danny.”

“I know, I know. Things are always fun with your best friend, ain’t it?”

“If you say you’re my best friend again, I’ll start calling you that.” (Y/n) teased.

“And I’ll kill you. Simple as that.”

“I’ll come back, you silly ghost.”

“And that’s what I hate about you Survivors. No matter how times I slit your throats, you always come back. What’s the point?”

“To please the Entity. Right..?”

“Fuck the Entity. Taking away the life I had.” The Ghost face quietly stood up again, the hovering accents of his coat floating lower. The man was holding something big and white, having (Y/n) catch it from the corner of her eye.

“What’s that you’re holding?” She asked, hoping to distract the man’s negative thoughts from his mind. Well.. the “negative” thoughts that made him unhappy.

“Come over here and find out. This’ll look great on you.”

“Hm..?” The woman stood up, making her way over to the murderer. Upon a very short arrival, she haves a gander at what’s in Danny’s hands.

A veil. An extremely white and clean wedding veil, way too pure, new, and angelic for this world. Even too pure for the real world, (Y/n) thought. It was made of expensive materials such as silk and the sheer fabric looked soft to touch. The crown was made of silver and had not a speck of rust tarnishing it, even the diamonds adorning the crown made no resistance of being removed, nor of falling off. To put it shortly, the accessory was beautiful. Almost divine.

“W-whoa.” Strained (Y/n)’s voice, raising a hand to touch the veil, only to have Danny move it away from her needy grasp. 

“Ah, ah, ahhh.” He cooed. “You go first, then me second.”

Huh? 

“Wait. You’re trying it on too?” (Y/n) tried not to laugh.

“What? You don’t think I’ll look good in it?”

“I didn’t say that..!” Her eyes watched as Danny rose the crown over her head, carefully adjusting the rather heavy headband on her hair. Finding a good spot, he pulled the veil to cover (Y/n)’s face, then stepped back.

(Y/n) tried so hard to not touch the cloth covering her face. “..How do I look..? It feels.. wrong wearing this.”

“Don’t know, I can’t see your face.” Danny replies with amusement.

She chuckles. “You’re not supposed to.” 

“Heh.. I’d pull up the veil, but that’s something for your little boyfriend to do.” 

(Y/n) blinked. “Y-you know about me and Jake?”

“I’m a stalker, (Y/n). I’ve seen the way he looks at you and I’ve seen the way you look at him. Being all mushy-mushy.” 

The sound of a knife being ripped from it’s sheath filled the room. “Anyways, my turn.”

_Wha?_

“Danny!” (Y/n) flipped the piece of cloth over her head, panic crossing her features.

“Calm down.” The Ghostface steps forward, knife in hand. “I just wanna see what it looks like with red, that’s all.

(Y/n) instinctively steps back. “H-hurt me and I’ll scream!”

Danny grips his knife. Hard. Then lowers it. “..No fun at all. Fine then, I’ll just use my own blood.” He stated nonchalantly, taking off one of his gloves.

(Y/n) evens her breathing and eventually calms her nerves. “No.”

“What?” He stopped mid-way to cutting his palm.

“I don’t want you to dirty it with blood.”

“Hah! Excuse me?” 

(Y/n) frowned at him. “I don’t want you to make it dirty with blood..! Please.”

Danny sighed. “Fiiine. Damn, you really are a princess. Just gimme the damn thing, (Y/n).”

With lightly, shivering hands (Y/n) removes the veil from her head and holds it out for Danny. The man puts his weapon away and gingerly takes the crown.

Then paused. 

. . . 

“.. Everything alright, Danny?”

“No. Come here.”

(Y/n) hesitantly complies, standing wary in front of the Ghostface. The man lifts a hand to the long chin of his mask, grasping it. He lifts it up and away from his face, his hood falling down onto his shoulders in the process.

There stood a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was cursed with faint scars on his face, one going across his right eye and over the bridge of his nose. Another scar going diagonally across his lips and the last one scratched down his right eyebrow. He had caramel, but pale-skin and short brown hair. His eyes are narrow, the irises colored hazel that glowed dimly; Indicting that some part of him isn’t entirely human, thanks to the Entity.

He’s.. handsome (Y/n) thought. Especially his bright, chestnut eyes. What in the world made a man like him turn into a sociopath?

“I know I’m sexy, now stop staring. You’re starting to creep me out.” The otherworldly man teased with that clearer, deep voice of his, snapping (Y/n) out of her daze. Why is there so many beautiful people in this realm? Jake with his.. everything. Claudette with her eyes and hair, Yui with her serious beauty, and Nea with her icy-blue eyes. Let’s not forget about Ace’s smile, David’s charming behavior, even the most disgusting Killer around that is Plague. Literally everyone. 

“S-sorry.”

“Come on. Let’s take a picture together, I’ll even let you keep one.” Danny places the crown on his head and pulls (Y/n) close, raising his camera up above them.

“Smile!” 

(Y/n).. smiles for the camera, resisting the urge to blink as the camera blinded her two times. 

“Aaand, there.” Danny releases the woman, looking at his camera. “By the way, how do I look? Tell me I’m beautiful.” He joked.

(Y/n) covers her mouth, holding back a giggle. He looked so silly with his cloak and the veil. “Hmm. You need a black veil or a white coat. Either way, looking good Danny, heh!” She gladly played along. Happy as Danny’s shoulders shook with laughter and the man took more funny pictures of himself.

**_ Ally  _ **

(Y/n) stopped at an open exit gate, the remaining people in the trial were her, Kate, and the Ghostface. The man had his mask back on to remain anonymous as much as he can, knife in hand while he looked to Kate and (Y/n) with the melancholic, glossy mask.

They were trying to convince others to accept him as one of their own, starting with the singer known as Kate Denson. She was loved around the campfire, despite the mysterious murders going around. Though the campers forced themselves to live with it, especially since they just came back from death, Kate was still the most adored camper around the site. 

No one could blame her nor them, her hopeful and cheery attitude was contagious in a sweet way. Her singing is a beautiful lullaby for most Survivors and often puts their souls at peace. Her only flaw would be she was too nice and a pushover most of the time. Most.

“Won’t the Entity punish you for this?” Said Kate, the woman pushing her blonde hair out of her face to have a better look at the Killer. “(Y/n) are ya sure we can trust him honey? He doesn’t look at all trustworthy.”

“I’m not fucking supposed to. I dress to scare people, not impress them.” Groaned Danny in frustration, causing Kate to frown at him.

“Oh shush! (Y/n), what’s goin’ on?”

“He wants to help us escape the Entity. Which means he won’t be sacrificing us to it.”

“Uh-huh.. and is this true?” She spoke to Ghostface now, who nodded slowly in response.

“It’s true, yes. I don’t have reason to keep feeding it anymore.”

“So wait.. if you found a reason, you’d go back to killin’ us?”

“Yes.” He deadpanned as the world around them shook.

“.. Nope. Nope, (Y/n) I’m not trustin’ him.” Said the blonde.

“Kate-“

“He’s too slithery and sleazy, like a little snake. I bet he’s gonna turn his back on us!”

“Let’s give him a chance, please..!” (Y/n) said, almost desperately. “I’ll never ask anything of you again. Please.”

“Oh.. (Y/n).” The songbird seemed troubled, her blue eyes lowering to the ground. “I dunno, hon..”

“Please, Kate. They trust you much, much more than they trust me.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Mine! Kate, I’m begging you. I need your help, I’ll do anything to repay you. Anything.” 

Kate gave a saddened look. Silent. Growled, then sighed with a decision.

“Alright. Ya have my support, please don’t betray me, (Y/n).”

“I wouldn’t even dream of it. Thank you, Kate.”

“You’re welcome, hon. Come along now, you don’t want the Entity to have it’s meal. Let’em go hungry.” The blonde turns to the Ghostface. “And you! If you betray me, I ain’t scared of making you look like a fool! Don’t cross me.” She warned, turning away and leaving the trial was the world shook and collapsed again. 

(Y/n) breathes a sigh of relief. “We did it. For now.” She turns to look at Danny. “We still have to wait for the other campers say on this. But, getting Kate to do this for us is a big start.”

“Ugh.. She’s always been a feisty one. I can’t say I don’t enjoy it, though.” Danny commented. 

“.. I hope you mean personality wise.”

“Nope.”

(Y/n) sighed. “Danny, why do you like killing people?”

He shrugged. “It’s fun.”

“I.. feel like there’s more to that.”

“Maybe there is, (Y/n). Either way, I don’t have enough time to tell you. You need to leave.”

“Right..” (Y/n) stepped towards the edge, seeing as the Entity’s spikes manifested into a thin, foggy line. “I’ll let you know what they say, okay Danny?”

He clicked his tongue. “Doesn’t matter, I’m still forcing my way in. Got it?”

(Y/n) nodded, uncertain but she understood. She stared at Danny for a bit, stepping backwards as she left the Asylum grounds. The spikes of the Entity rose and blocked the two from going further on either side. Like before: the world around Danny is disappearing into black and orange dust. 

Like before, they just stood. Fixated on each other as Danny disappeared with the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo!
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	12. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth has been revealed.
> 
> Two parts for this Chapter. Kind of short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discarded the Non-Con idea, mostly because of what happens in the beginning of this Chapter. It just didn’t feel right and held no place.
> 
> Writing can take people many places, I swear.

**_ Familial  _ **

Today is just not a great day for (Y/n). Well. Whatever “today” meant in the Entity’s Realm. 

Today had begun it’s relentless assault as soon as she woke up. (Y/n) was resting on Jake’s chest as usual, when she awoke to a painful, beating pain in her head. Her last trial before she slept was against the electrifyingly crazed man known as the Doctor. With him, he brought a Mori and killed two people in the trial, one of them being (Y/n). After trial, she came back to the campsite with a headache that only amplified once she made even the slightest of movement. Like almost always when the campers got murdered by the hands of the Killer, she eventually passed out of from the pain. Luckily, this meant that she won’t have a trial today. Not until the pain resides.

Now here she is, much too comfortable and too tired to move away from Jake, not like she wanted to, though. She didn’t even have the energy to move her head. 

But, she’ll try.

(Y/n) moaned groggily and begun the process of moving her head. Slowly and carefully. The headache has dulled a bit, but it was still annoying to deal with.

Slowly. 

Slowly.

There.

There he is. (Y/n) smiled at the amazing sight of Jake Park. He was awake, arm resting around (Y/n)’s back and the other holding what looked like a small piece of paper. His thick eyebrows were scrunched in focus, the wrinkles on his forehead and glabella appearing faintly, as if he was having a difficult time understanding whatever he was reading.

(Y/n) breathes a sigh out of her nose and reaches a hand up to Jake, fingertips and nails lightly scratching his flat chin and along his jawline. The affectionate gesture snaps him out of his focus, his face lightening and wrinkles gone once his eyes settled on (Y/n). 

His eyes.. The woman’s face shifts into confusion at Jake’s epicanthic folds, more specifically the irises. They were lighter, closer to a yellowish-orange before going back to a dark-chocolate brown color. She could’ve sworn they were glowing as well.

.. Maybe she was hallucinating again. Damn you, Doctor.

“How are you feeling?” Said the man below her, diverting (Y/n)’s attention from his eyes temporarily. 

“I-I feel like trash that fell on the side of the road, rejected by a garbage truck and the kind community services..” She replies with a smile, going back to scratching Jake’s jaw.

The man tries to ignore how oddly specific that was.

“Hm.” He looks back at the paper in hand. “Go back to sleep.” Jake said as more of a demand than a suggestion. (Y/n) gently flicks his chin now, reaching up to kiss it afterwards.

“I don’t wanna. I like scratching your jaw.”

“Weirdo.” Jake rubbed (Y/n)’s back with his palm, occasionally drawing phantom circles along her spine. 

The woman’s body loosens up at the touch.

“I feel like you’d look good with a beard.” (Y/n) states, nails fiddling alongside his neck now. 

She felt Jake grumble with laughter under her. “Would you believe me if I said I used to have one..? I’d shave it and it would grow back like fuckin’ weeds.”

(Y/n) covers her lips, muffling a short giggle. “You don’t like having a beard, Jake?”

“Mmm no, I do. Some days. Some days it’s whatever, other days it’s annoying as hell.”

(Y/n) hummed, wearing a silly smile now. 

Jake blinked. “Why are you smiling like that..? What’s on your mind?”

“I’m thinking about you with a beard. Thinking of how much of a grumpy papa bear you’ll be.”

Jake closed his eyes. Of course. Such a (Y/n) thing to say. The man opens his eyes again and sets down the paper, sitting up and having (Y/n) sit on lap. He held her close still, mindful of her headache. “You think of me as a papa bear? Does that mean you think I’ll be a good dad?”

(Y/n) settles further comfortably on Jake’s lap, wrapping her arms around his torso. 

It was an.. interesting question.

“.. Depennds. Do you want kids, Jake?”

The man hummed in thought, his irises flashing burnt-orange again. “I’ve thought about it once, some time after we got together. I’ve thought about how I would treat them, much better than how my old man treated me.”

Ohh.. sensitive topic. “W-what do you mean..?”

Jake’s expression morphed into a gloomy man. “I mean.. he gave me everything I needed to succeed in life. That, I can appreciate. But, he never gave me love. He only cared about his work and who would carry on his dumbass “legacy”. Everything was about him. He only paid attention to me if I was failing school or just.. just, if my grades weren’t up to his standards.”

He squeezed (Y/n) in his hold. Not too tight, only to release some tension. “My mother tried to understand me but.. he wouldn’t let her. He said he didn’t like her sugarcoating me. As for my brother.. he cared, but he was too much of a boot-licker to our dad. That opinionated bastard ruined my family with his expectations.”

(Y/n) took a moment to let his words soak in. The woman returned the squeeze within the hug, wearing a thoughtful gaze. “So. That’s why you left to live in the woods..?”

“Mmhm.” Jake ends it there, giving a message that he didn’t wish to talk about his past anymore.

(Y/n) understands and chooses her next words carefully. “Well. I’m sure you’ll be a great father someday, Jake..! Grumpy, but loving.” 

He smiled his lazy smile. 

Nailed it.

“Oh really? (Y/n), have you ever thought about having kids?” He asked, the hand on her back traveling down to simply pat her bum twice.

“I have. But, only because baby clothes are so adorable! Now, I wouldn’t mind having a baby and helping them grow up.”

Jake eyes hooded in content. He wants to tell (Y/n) that he’d love to have children with her, especially when they escape this wor-

“I-I’m sorry if this is weird, but I wouldn’t mind having kids with you, Jake.”

Ah. She beat him to the punch. Jake responds: “You really are a weirdo, only a crazy woman would want a family with me. You wanna have my kids?”

(Y/n) gives a soft chuckle, gazing at Jake with a doting spark in her eyes. “Of course! That’s what I just said, you dummy.”

He sighs quietly. With a smirk, he kisses her forehead. “I know. I just needed to hear you say it again.”

**_ True Colors _ **

It was still there. The headache, of course. (Y/n) whined as she tried her best to ignore it while venturing out further into the woods, collecting what items she could find. She was never really an expert at achieving an iron will, despite Jake’s best efforts to teach her. Avoiding inflicting pain on (Y/n), he instead used a completely different.. method with some pain.

He tried his best. He most certainly tried his best and (Y/n) loves him for that.

The black and red speckled mist surrounded her, presenting two items before her: A run-down, camping aid kit and a shiny, glittering wedding ring. One for healing, the other ties her to the Obsession of the trial, or something like that. It was poetic in a way. Though it’s only used to give her information, it’s true beauty is somewhat tainted by being just another form of the Entity.

(Y/n) reaches down and grabs the Med-Kit, somewhere in her conscience telling her that it’ll be more useful than the ring. The accessory gets swallowed up by the fog, no where to be seen. No where to be taken. 

(Y/n) moves on.

She could only go so far. Once she arrives to a waiting broken key and a wire spool, the woman takes the spool and watches as the key disappears in the mist. The fog doesn’t open up another path for her to scrounge for any more items, and (Y/n) takes that as sign to wait and be transported back to the campsite.

Silence.

Wind.

The soothing, quiet storm of the mist.

More cackling sounds of the-

Okay, what’s happening?

(Y/n) turns and looks around, seeing that she’s still surrounded by the smoke-like substance. She’s not stuck here, is she? She doesn’t mind finding a way back, she was just used to being transformed into particles then reappearing at the site. 

Hm.. (Y/n) began to walk back from whence she came, contemplating the big, dark cloud before her. The woman steps forward, only for the wind to resist and push her back. Well. Time for plan B. She faces the other way, opting to walk that way instead of “back”. The fog rumbles when she’s close, but doesn’t give any sort fuss when she actually passes her arms and leg through.

Bingo.

(Y/n) smiles victoriously. Closing her eyes, she takes another step forward and blankets herself within the mist. It was beating like a healthy heart, vibrating, reverberating with strong, ominous energy. The soft dust and particles caressed (Y/n)’s face and eyelashes, making them itch or tickle a little. She kept walking. Decisive in her footsteps, until she felt no more of the fog hugging her body. 

(Y/n) opens her eyes to get familiar with her environment, the first thing she notices is the obvious lack of weight in her hands. Huh. Her items were gone. (Y/n) doesn’t think too much of it and just observes the place. It wasn’t the camp, but the place lit up by the bright moonlight gave her enough light to help her realize that she landed in a forest. The forest was lively, but plain. It had a clearing in the middle, similar to the clearing she found Claudette in a time ago. (Y/n) knew this one was different though, the clearing Claudette goes to isn’t that far from the camp. 

(Y/n) took hesitant steps towards the area ahead, hearing noises other than the dry leaves rustling in the cold wind. She listens closely, the sound of air being cut through by metal. The metal dug something into wet, something fluid. 

The noise did not seem right. At all. 

The woman’s gut told her to leave. To turn around, leave this place, and never come back.

But, something in her mind coaxed her into doing otherwise.

She listens to it, foolishly. (Y/n) continues to walk closer to the clearing, making out a figure standing over something. As the woman comes closer, the figure becomes more clearer in the light and under the shadow of the trees. Eventually, it didn’t take her very long to see who it is.

There stood Jake Park. Blood splattered all over his white uniform shirt and blue-grey vest. His recently cleaned apron, gloves, and boots were covered in blood. His face was partially protected from the bodily fluid, his mask and glasses being the protectors in this case. Under the man lies Felix Richter in repose, except nothing about his death seemed peaceful. His blood dripped from the back of his head, his back, throat, and mouth, green fish eyes wide with no sign of life in them. 

The horrid sight made (Y/n) tremble. Arms and legs feeling cold and going dangerously numb.

“J-Jake..?”

The man turns his head to face (Y/n), short, messy hair moving with the wind of the mist and purple glasses concealing his eyes in the lunar light. He moves away from Felix, revealing the hunting knife in his right hand, the same knife (Y/n) worried about for days after discovering it. She thought it was detrimental to Jake’s image. She thought he used it to defend himself from the Killers. She knew it was too outrageous to believe, but she fucking believed it anyway. 

Jake moves again, snapping (Y/n) out of her disbelief at the hunting knife, as if it was at fault for making Jake the way he is now.

Except it wasn’t. She knew it wasn’t.

“Wha- Why.. why did you- he’s dead.. Jake.” (Y/n)’s voice shook as the man in question stopped two feet away from her. He grabbed the side of his dirty, bloody apron and cleans the blood off his weapon, letting go of the apron after he’s seemingly done with it.

“You wanna know why? If you really want to know, then you’ll have to try it yourself, (Y/n).” He made a step closer, the strong, copper-like smell becoming sickening.

She immediately took one back instinctively. Is he.. Was he offering her to create more wounds on the architect’s body?? “Try what..? Who.. Why did you kill him!?” There were tears in her eyes now, saddened that Jake was like this. Hurt that she’s been lied to, wrongfully betrayed by someone she loves. 

A tired sigh came from Jake. The woodsman removes his mask first, then his glasses, moving the band of the satchel to stuff them into his bag. He looks to (Y/n) with an indiscernible face, disdain in his brown eyes. “If you’re not gonna listen, then we’re just gonna go back. He’ll be alive by then, anyways. Won’t even remember his death.” 

.. WHAT?

Did he not care? “J-Jake, you killed someone!” (Y/n) sobs now, coming closer. “You murdered him! Y-you lied to everyone, you l-lied to me..!” She wails, the tears falling. “How can we-Mmph!”

(Y/n) struggled a little as her jaw was grabbed roughly by one of Jake’s hands. He squeezed lightly, the gesture surprising enough to eventually silence the crying woman. 

He waited. Waited until she calmed down before softening his grip, hand roaming past her quivering lips and back down under her jaw, thumb rubbing the space between there and her neck. The woman averts her gaze, eyes puffy with tears.

“(Y/n), let’s go back to the camp and go to sleep together, holding each other, alright..?” Jake began sweet talking her in that gravelly, but soft-spoken voice of his, moving his hand away from her neck to rub at her hair. “C’mon. You can fall asleep on my chest and forget about everything, like always. I’ll even read to you as you sleep.”

(Y/n) breathes in slowly, gulping down the lump in her throat. Although she should be afraid of Jake right now, which she is, she also wants to let him coddle her and help her forget about this. 

No. What is wrong with her? Push him away. Run away now. He’s a liar, he-

“Sounds good..?” He murmured softly, lifting her head and forcing her to look at him. The disdainful look is no longer there, instead replaced by his loving stare. His brown eyes held a hint of orange to them, it was like a comet, rotating around his pupils then disappearing.

Those eyes again. Was this even her Jake? (Y/n) slowly shook her head, eyebrows furrowing with the threat of crying again. “N-no, I can’t just ignore this, Jake. He’s-!” Interrupted again, this time by Jake lifting her up swiftly. (Y/n) gasped and struggles to balance herself, hands resting on Jake’s shoulders. The man looks up at her.

“You used to be so good at that: Ignoring everything. If this is so troublesome to you, then ignore it.” He stated flatly, arms carrying (Y/n) by her knees as he lead them towards the fog, leaving Felix’s dead body behind. “We’re gonna go get some rest, okay?”

(Y/n) didn’t fight. She didn’t kick, bite, hit, or do anything. She began to loathe herself for every second that went by without her fighting him, a killer. The same one who’s responsible for the random deaths at the site and at the trials. Possibly responsible for her own death long ago. “..Jake..?” She spoke in a strained voice, still letting him carry her back.

“Yeah?”

“D-did you kill me? In the Estate?”

Jake hummed in disapproval. “I would never put my hands on you like that, (Y/n).”

She doesn’t respond. She didn’t need to. He lets her think and believe what she wants to believe, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly coming together.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	13. Harboring a Fugitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something happens to Danny Johnson. Everything continues to downward spiral with some moments of hope.

**_ Bottled Up _ **

(Y/n) kneels down near a steadily chugging generator in the upper floor of Father Campbell's Chapel, the woman sat there in dread, occasionally working on the generator, but no making no dedicated effort to actually complete it. She felt physically drained and demotivated after what happened before she slept, learning the truth about Jake and his cruel intentions towards everyone at the campfire, the way he coaxed (Y/n) into turning a blind eye and how infuriated she was at herself for letting him do it. She painfully remembers that night:

_ "You know why I did that." Jake began in a peaceful tone, "Right?" _

_ "R-right." Because Felix was trying to change her for the worst. Yeah. He was. Was he? _

_ "(Y/n) listen, I will never hurt you. I'll only hurt whoever tries to harm you, understood?" _

_ "I understand.." _

_ "Good. Now c'mere. I love you, (Y/n)." _

_"I love-.. I love you too, Jake."_

The woman does wonder what will happen if she tells someone. Will Jake kill them? Will he kill her? It's not like the man has the strength to fight off everyone, so what the hell was stopping her?! She's letting a man get away with murder, she's an accomplice, a bystander, a heartless woman for potentially abetting Jake to take the life of others without much restraint.

One tear.

Then another.

Multiple came as (Y/n)'s lips quivered.

She was so pathetic. She knew why she didn't tell. She didn't want anything harmful happen to Jake, despite stupidly knowing that he's bringing harm upon others. (Y/n) loves him way, way too much yet she couldn't help it. The way he treated her was like none other, albeit a little strange, but it was the kind of love she'll never find again once it's lost. It was very selfish of her to do this, but that was nothing new with her, now was it?

A tear fell.

Plit. Plit.

Her hands rise to work on the generator.

(Y/n) needed to change. Now. Before, she was a woman who preferred to be alone, who wanted to find her own way out of this realm, and maybe associate herself with a few people. She rarely felt any emotion other than frustration, which often led to her crying or fuming, all of those negative emotions. Those very same negative emotions that Jake took away from her, now being the one to cause them. (Y/n) needed to be independent again. She didn't have to push people away, no, she was past that phase. She needed to be positive and put her foot down when need be. But.. what about Ja-

BOOM! 

(Y/n) instantly covers her face from the exploding sparks flying everywhere, yelping in surprise.

Shit.. wrong wire.

She uncovers herself once the damage is done, finding burn marks on her arms and being left with the result of the generator running slower than before. Dammit.. she was fifty percent done with that thing. If only she hadn’t been so distracted with the recent events.

Stupid. She was so stupid. Stupid. Stu-

“Hey! You alright over there?”

(Y/n) snaps out of the unwanted thoughts, turning to find the speaker of that voice. It was soft, feminine, like how a concerned mother would speak to her child, after her child had fell from running too fast.

(Y/n)’s eyes land on Claudette Morel, who gave her an amused look.

”Oh, it’s you, (Y/n)! It’s been a while, huh?”

(Y/n) stayed silent. Her eyes were a little wide, as if she’s in utter disbelief.

The medic rose an eyebrow at (Y/n)’s behavior, then continues “Uhh. I heard the generator blow, you okay there hon?”

(Y/n) blinks. How long has it been since she’s seen Claudette? The clearing? The reeds? (Y/n) didn’t care. More tears sprung from the woman’s eyes. “Y-you’re here.”

”What? Of course I’m here. (Y/n) are you o- Oof!” Claudette’s air got knocked out of her lungs as (Y/n) nearly skipped up and hugged. She held Claudette tightly, eyes squeezed shut and grasping at the back of her shirt. Her ugly, amazing, light-salmon uniform shirt. It didn’t have to be a cute top, it was Claudette’s fashion sense and that’s what matters. (Y/n) adores her friend and she’s gonna love everything about her. 

(Y/n) Nuzzles her face into Claudette’s shoulder, unable to fight off even a little bit of the tears that immediately came. The other woman could only stay silent, hearing (Y/n) sobbing loudly into her shoulder, but she slowly returned the affection with a hug. Claudette sways them from one side to another, hand rubbing (Y/n)’s shaking back in an attempt to calm her down. The medic, though considered one of many things to be wrong, guessed that (Y/n) missed her. After all, she missed her too. 

“Shh, it’s alright, it’s alright.. I’m here for you.”

“I-I missed you so much..” And there it is. Claudette guessed right.

“Awe, hey.. I missed you too.”

That was all that needed to be said for now. The botanist waited until (Y/n) stopped crying, needing to focus on something else before she started tearing up as well. 

Ah.

She rose a hand, pulling some lint and specks of dirt out of (Y/n)’s hair. The chapel was ruined, dusty, and dirty. Claudette assumes the debris came from the wrecked ceiling.

CHING! CHING!

The sound of two generators being completed at the same time drowned out (Y/n)’s sobs. Her crying became more quiet because of it and even more silent once she registered Claudette’s hand in her hair. Within less than a minute, (Y/n) relaxed. She still had her face buried in Claudette’s now wet shoulder and didn’t move until the other woman spoke.

“Feeling better now, hon?” 

(Y/n) nodded, pulling away to rub at her puffy eyes and reddened face. She did feel better, a whole LOT better. (Y/n) doesn’t remember that last time she’s cried this much, sure there were light tears and she felt absolutely devastated upon discovering Jake’s true colors, but this cry released a heavy burden off her shoulders. Every hardship she’s ever been through and experienced, all manifested into the tiny tears that just fell off her face.

Vision clearer than before, (Y/n) smiles sheepishly at Claudette. “I’m sorry about your shirt, eheh..”

“Ohh don’t worry about it, this thing is beyond saving anyway.” She looks at her shirt, tugging on the ends. “It’s probably happy it got some water.”

(Y/n) muffles a giggle at that. Silly Claudette, implying that the shirt is alive. 

“Still. I um, I kinda jumped onto you without warning.”

“(Y/n) it’s fiine. Look, how about this.” Claudette pauses, clasping her hands together in thought. “We get this generator do-“

CHING! CHING!

“.. Done. And then we talk about this at the camp, sounds alright?”

“I’m okay with that!” 

“Good, good..! Now come on, I think the Killer might be out of their mind today.”

(Y/n) kneels down at the generator she was working on earlier, having a much better state of mind than before. 

“Aren’t they all out of thei-“

“Yes, yes.” Claudette smiled, obviously holding back a laugh as she kneels down to help repair the machine. “Yes, they are. I didn’t realize what I said until after I said it, geez.”

(Y/n) wears a mischievous expression, deciding to joke around with Claudette until the generator is finished.

**_ Entity Displeased  _ **

The horn blares loudly. It was time to leave.

Claudette lead (Y/n) towards an exit gate, one of which had three bright, flashing red lights. Just a bit more power, then it’s open. That meant their other teammates wanted to do something before actually leaving.

“Looks like we have to wait. Weird.. I’ve only seen the Killer once.”

(Y/n) looks to Claudette. “Who is it..?”

“The Ghost Face. He was sitting on top of a generator just.. lounging there. In a corner of the circus.”

Ah.. Danny being Danny. “Do you think he’s still there?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going over there. I don’t trust him.”

Oh, right.. Ever since Kate suggested inviting Danny to support them, the group has been divided. Most people were against that, Claudette, Meg, David. More people are with the idea, Ace, Nea, and Dwight. When Dwight made his decision it was basically final, but he insisted on letting others vote.

And what do ya know? More than half the people went with Dwight’s decision. (Y/n) was extremely grateful for the leader and she didn’t even know him well.

“I’ll go find him then.” The woman turns around and began walking towards the circus.

“Hm.. be careful.” Claudette warns, putting a hand on her hip and leaning on one leg. “If I see even a scratch on you, he’s getting a piece of my mind.”

“Eheh.. I’ll be careful, I promise..!” (Y/n) hoped Danny is in a good mood today. 

Sitting on generator? Not spooking anyone? Not even coming to talk to her? Not that he needed to, but something just felt off.

. . . 

The Ghostface twirled the sharp tip of his knife on the machine, leaning on one foot while the other hangs off the side. With no one to see him, his mask was off and laid face-up on the ground. He didn’t have the energy to pick it up right now, he just.. stared 

“Fuck this place.” He mumbled in frustration, digging a small hole into the generator with his spinning weapon. 

It was one of those days.

One of those days where he would reminisce and miss his old life dearly. He had so much there. A lot, there. And when he accepted the deal with the Entity, he threw all away. Sure he couldn’t die, sure the Survivors he killed would always come back. He had to admit, this place is a murderer’s dream.

But, Danny is different. He didn’t kill to please something he looked up to, in fact he looks up to no one. He is no thug, he is a killer with his own agenda. Granted, he felt proud of himself that his dark mind and crimes attracted a god of all things, but he hated being told what to do. If the Entity is truly satisfied with Danny, then why did it chastise every little thing he’s done?

It was revolting, taking orders from someone. That needed to change soon.

Danny stopped spinning his knife once he heard something from a great distance, the metal scratching metal coming to loud, screeching halt. He turned his head to glance over his shoulder, hood concealing most of his face, but not his eyesight. Danny quickly recognizes the shoes and pants, no longer needing his hood to hide his face.

“Get out.” Danny wasted no time, going back to spinning his knife further into the generator.

(Y/n) winced, but made no step to leave. “Danny, what’s the matter?”

“You’re here.”

“You’re lying..”

“No, I’m not. You really shouldn’t be here, you’re a Survivor and you’re supposed to go back to your little friends.”

“And I will! But, only after you tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t need to tell you shit. I can throw you out of here if need be.” His knife comes to another screeching halt, turning to look at (Y/n) now with an annoyed face. “Get out.”

(Y/n)’s gaze averted to the ground, but she didn’t obey. Her right hand went her left forearm, rubbing there.

They stood there in silence with neither of them moving. What seemed like an eternity went by before Danny pushes himself off of the generator, making quiet steps towards (Y/n). This coat moved in the wind with him, except for the strips of cloth behind him, which no longer floated. Danny breaks the short silence. “You know what I hate most about this place, (Y/n)..?”

She musters up the courage to look at him, taking in his glowing, orange glare. “Us? As in.. we, the campers?”

“No. Well actually-“ Danny feigns pondering in deep thought. “Yes. But, I think I hate the Entity even more. It made me fail. Made me angry at myself.”

(Y/n) didn’t respond, but she was listening.

Danny breathes a deep sigh. “If you haven’t caught on, I need to go home ASAP. So don’t you and your “friends” fuck this up and think you’re “saving” me.” His eyes narrowed, as dramatically as the Ghostface can get. “I promise that if I meet you in the real world, I’ll make sure the day of your death will go down in history. Got that?”

(Y/n) nodded and paled. None of what Danny made perfect sense, but the overall message she got is: Help him go back home.

Danny glares down at (Y/n) for a second or two, then his face softens. “Doormat.”

“Wha?”

He grabs both sides of her face and squeezes them together to make fishy lips. “You’re a fucking doormat.”

“Shtop dat!” She grabbed his sleeves, confused on the sudden change of behavior.

“Pffft, hell no. Wait wait, I’m gonna get my camera..!”

“M’nonna bite you!”

“I even won’t feel it, shuddap. Hold still it’ll be over in a sec-“

The world shook around them, breaking their balance as they both landed on the ground. 

What the..? The gates opening had never been this harsh.

“Danny, are you okay..?” (Y/n) stands up, wobbling on her legs at the earthquake. “Be carefu-!”

“Go!”

“What?!” (Y/n) yelled back, balancing herself on a nearby jungle-gym wall. With this stability her vision also cleared up a bit.

Oh..

And the image before her was horrifying.

It reminded the woman of the basement, the part she vowed to never explore again. The giant, black claws sprouting and coming out of the bright, faulty ground; sharp tips grabbing at Danny and surrounding the man. One of the claws suddenly shoved itself into his torso, causing the man to gasp and spew blood out of his mouth, coughing violently from the assault.

Oh no..

“Danny!!” (Y/n) screamed as the ground below the injured, struggling man opened up further, huge pieces falling into a yellow-ish orange sinkhole. (Y/n) tries to reach out to to him, before it’s too late, before the claws dragged further down to hell with him. She could do it. Yeah, maybe it was far, but she could do it. She could save him. She could save Danny-

“No, fuck off! Get out! Don’t you dare come near it!” Yelled Danny, who was already halfway down the hole. His arm grabbed at the remaining claws that tried to pierce his head, his strength draining along with the resistance of his injury and the energy to fight.

(Y/n) started to panic. No, the sinkhole was far too large for her to even attempt to rescue him. There were too many claws, too much blood.. What was happening? Why is this happening to him? What did he do? What could she-

“Son of a- Don’t be fucking stupid (Y/n), I said go!” He spat, no longer looking at her. Danny was instead focused on the endless fall before him, his face contorted in confusion.

Shit..

There really was nothing she could do, not without outright killing herself in the act.

It wasn’t fair.

(Y/n)’s lips quivered. She took one step back. One more, almost losing her balance, then ran away from the sinkhole and claws before it got a chance to get her.

. . . 

With a lot of trouble thanks to the earthquake, (Y/n) finally made it to the exit gates. Standing there waiting for her stood Claudette with an extremely worried face. 

“W-where were you!? Come on, let’s leave!” Before (Y/n) could even think of the words to respond, the botanist grabbed her wrist and forced her out of the world with her. When they successfully escaped the world didn’t disappear into speckles of glow and dust, it just.. collapsed. Fell helplessly further down into the hungry sinkhole, mercilessly eating up anything it touches. (Y/n) tries not to hyperventilate, even as her friend ran with her past the wall of the fog and into the comfort of the campfire.

**_ Consolation _ **

(Y/n) sat in Claudette’s tent, across from bouquets of beautiful, colorful flowers and square pouches to make a soft, aromatic smell. Along with the flickering of the bonfire, it was like the woman lived in a cabin. A very, very small cabin. (Y/n) wraps a blanket around her, being mindful of Claudette, who is half-asleep. They hadn’t spoke much since escaping the trial. It was just “Follow me, (Y/n)” and “Okay” and that was it. With Jake sleeping soundly in his tent, (Y/n) would do whatever she desired.

Jake..

The botanist could tell that something heavy was weighing on (Y/n)’s mind. She didn’t speak though. She waited until (Y/n) was ready to talk about it. Patience is virtue after all.

Wait..

Waait..

Wait.

One..two..and three.

(Y/n) breathing hitches. “I-I think Da- the Ghostface got thrown in the Void.”

Claudette is suddenly wide-awake now. “You know him on a first-name basis..?”

“Yes. Well, Yui and I do. He didn’t mean to tell us, it just slipped out.”

“Hm.. Why do you think he was sent to the Void?”

“The claws Claudette, th-they came out of nowhere. We were talking and something was up with him, but after he was in a better mood the claws took him. It dragged him into the ground, b-below the surface..!” (Y/n) tries evening her rapid breathing. “It almost got me.”

“Judging from the description of the book and your story, yeah.. The Entity took him to the Void.”

_What..? Really? How did (Y/n) forget that?_

“But why..?”

“Calm down for a minute and think with me, (Y/n). Of all the games we had with him recently, has he killed any of us?”

“.. He.. He stabbed David when he wanted to fight.”

“True, he was cheating and spilling blood, but that’s not sacrificing anyone. He’s not feeding the Entity, therefore the Entity doesn’t need him anymore.”

“.. Why didn’t I think of this? I got so roped up into e-everything and- Of course he’d get thrown into the Void if he helps us.”

Claudette nodded. “I think we all forgot. Don’t beat yourself up over it, remember Jake and I are working on serums to help us escape. Also.. what is ‘everything’..?”

“Hm? O-oh right. I was crying when you found me.” (Y/n) buries her face in the soft blanket and moans tiredly.

One..two..three.

“Claudette, what do you do if you wanna change someone?”

The lady rose an eyebrow. “.. That idiot. What did Jake do?”

“N-nothing!” (Y/n) said quickly. Depending on how this conversation goes, she might have to expose him. Or find some advice changing him. Who better to ask than his best friend?

“Mmmhm.” Claudette wasn’t buying it, but she continues. “Anyways, Jake isn’t really a man of words, he’s what people nowadays call a man of action.” She winks playfully, and that one little wink lightens up (Y/n)’s mood a bit. “So naturally, if you want to get something through that stubborn skull of his, just show’em. Don’t tell’em. Some people just won’t get the message until you, sometimes literally, slap them in their face. Jake is one of those people, but that’s only because he’s that way with people too.”

(Y/n)’s body shivers with inside laughter. No matter how sad or mad she felt, Claudette always found a way to bring up her spirits. “So.. I have to show him what I want?”

“Yes, hon. And if you need help, I’m right here with you. I’ve been wanting to slap that boy for so long, especially after.. ugh, that. You know, _that_.” She rolls her eyes.

(Y/n) knows. “I’m so sorry, Claudette.”

“Oh it’s fine! We made up so that’s what matters between us.”

(Y/n) smiles genuinely. “Hopefully, he and Yui can get along as well.”

“Hah! I doubt that. Don’t mean to gossip, buut-“ Claudette wears a toothy grin. “All that girl talks about is her lavish life, motorcycles, and how much she hates some people around here.” She covers her lips, silencing her laugh.

“Awee, Claudette. Don’t be mean..!” (Y/n) replies playfully, nudging the woman’s shoulder.

“I can’t help it! You should come around more often, you’ll see a lot weird habits of some people here and-“

_-Scratch, ziiiip-_

“Whoops!” Claudette giggles and (Y/n) herself tries not to laugh, as the former one of the two opens the tent for them. “It’s girls night, who is i- Adam?!”

“Uh.. hey. Sorry to bother ya, Claudette.” Said the formal man, making the woman in front of him blush.

“N-no! You’re not bothering me, what’s wrong? What can I do for you? N-need a Med-Kit?” Before Adam could respond, Claudette quickly grabs something for him and shoved it into his hands. “I got a lot of Med-Kits for-! .. You.”

(Y/n) blinked.

Adam scratched his head.

Claudette looked even more embarrassed.

There wasn’t a Med-Kit in Adam’s hands. It was a bouquet of flowers. 

Claudette looked as though as she was about to pass out.

“Thanks!” Adam began, noticing the woman’s nervousness. “But actually, I just wanted to talk to you. But, I see you’re busy so um, I can wai-“

“No!” (Y/n) nearly shouted at Adam, trying to catch him before he could leave. She knew what was going on here. “I was gonna go anyway, I’m sure Jake is worried about me right now.” She turns to Claudette, who couldn’t stop blushing and looking flustered.

(Y/n) winked. “You two can talk. See you later, Claudette.”

“H-huh!?” The botanist watched in disbelief, as though her friend betrayed her. In a fun way. (Y/n) folded the blanket as neat as she can, then crawls past Claudette to come out of the tent. “Have fun! Thank you for the advice!”

“See ya, (Y/n)!” Adam waves after her, then turns to the shivering woman before him. “Thanks for the flowers, heh.”

“Ah- I-! You.. well.. hmm.. Y-you’re welcome, Adam.” Claudette finally relaxes her nerves enough to speak with the teacher.

. . .

(Y/n) crawls quietly into Jake’s tent, seeing that he’s still sound asleep. She closes the tent and lies down next to him. He shifts in his sleep, but doesn’t wake up. (Y/n) takes this peaceful moment to observe him, his sleeping face, eyebrows scrunched together like he was mad at something in his dream.

(Y/n) sighs. She didn’t tell anyone about his crimes, but if Claudette’s advice gone well, she wouldn’t have to. Jake will stop his schemes and it’ll be their little secret.

Yep. A heavy little secret.

_Just show Jake that you do NOT approve of what he’s doing._

_Show him your feelings._

_Show him that you don’t want him to be a murderer._

(Y/n) presses her forehead against his, watching as he took in several shaky breathes, then breathes out. 

“You there..?” He grumbled in his sleep.

“I’m here, Jake. Go back to sleep, no need to worry.”

“Mmm.”

(Y/n) laid there for a little longer. She didn’t sleep, just waited for the fire to go out and for everyone to sleep. It shouldn’t take long now.

. . .

It didn’t take long. Soon, she couldn’t see Jake too well, but the moonlight illuminated through the sheer fabric of the tent.

Alright.

(Y/n) moves away from Jake. Carefully. She pulls the cover over him and crawls to the other side of the tent. She stops and squints her eyes in the dark.

Where is it..? It shouldn’t be-

There it is.

(Y/n) grabs the satchel, zipping it open. Slowly. And slowly until it was open.

There. That damn knife. 

There was a few serums in there as well, gleaming and swirling with life. Two of them are radiating more than the others.

Are those.. are those serums for the Void? 

Hm.. Her thoughts trailed to Danny.. Will this save him? She didn’t know, but (Y/n) grabbed one and hid it in her shoe. The woman took her other slipper and placed it on top of her shoe. With that out of the way, she went on to take the hilt of the hunting knife in her hands, setting the satchel down afterwards. 

Here it is. It was heavy, felt like it was vibrating in her hand, like it was trying to tell her something. 

No matter.

She is going to get rid of this. Throw it somewhere in the fog and never, ever see it in Jake’s hand again. That’ll send a big message.

_-Click-_

Just as the woman began to move, the lantern switches on, light filling the space instantly.

... 

“Put it down.” (Y/n)’s body shook as Jake’s rough voice rumbles through the tent.

She drew a shuddering sigh. Not how she wanted this to go, but no matter the process, the result WILL be the same.

“I.. I want you to stop this. Jake.” (Y/n) says as sternly as she can, glancing over her shoulder with the knife still in hand. Jake’s expression, though tired, seemed.. emotionless. 

She sees him lower his head and heard him sigh. Then he moved towards (Y/n) in a casual manner, arm reaching around her once he’s close enough with his legs around hers. He didn’t grab the weapon, instead, he held the hand that grasps it. Jake guided (Y/n)’s wrist to one side, seeing the metal glimmer in the dim light. The woman feels the hilt rumbling nearly violently in her hold with the woodsman’s presence.

Is this even a normal blade?

Jake rests his head on (Y/n)’s shoulder, then spoke. “If y’want me to stop, then I will.”

“.. Wha? You’re not- you’re not lying to me again, are you?”

He shook his head, but said nothing.

“Jake, let’s get rid of this.”

“Can’t.” He replies nonchalantly.

“And why not..?” (Y/n) retorts in a strained voice.

“You feel it, right? It’s shaking, it’s connected to me, (Y/n). I can’t just get rid of it.”

“What is it made of?”

“The fog.”

Her breathing stops for a split second. “You can control the fog, Jake..?”

“Yeah.” He pushes her hand and knife towards the open satchel. “Let go of it.”

“N-no!” She snatches her hand back. “Only if you promise me that you won’t kill anymore.”

Silence.

“Jake, please..”

The man squeezes (Y/n)’s wrist, but made no effort to force her to release the knife.

“I’m sorry. I promise, (Y/n).”

Her shoulders fell. Without another word yet, (Y/n) places the sharp object back in Jake’s satchel, her hand now holding his. 

“Y-you have to show me, Jake.” She rests her head against his. She could’ve worded that better.

“Of course, I don’t expect you to believe me right away. I love you (Y/n), okay?” It’s okay. He understood. He always does.

“I love you too, Jake.” The woman says with a big, aching heart as she squeezes his hand tighter.

. . . Yeah.

Everything will be okay soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to normal with the three part chapters, as long as they used to be.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	14. Heedless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, a plan doesn’t have to be a good one.

**_ Keepsakes  _ **

“You’re telling me this might be the Nurse..?” Jake examines a wedding photo from a pile of miscellaneous items, a picture of a gorgeous woman with wavy, red-hair. She was wearing an old-fashioned wedding dress with long, laced sleeves. The dress was modest, reaching past her feet and the collar tied at her neck with a small ribbon. The woman smiled big in the picture, make-up a tiny bit worn from crying it seemed. The man could tell it was the happiest day of her life.

“Yes!” (Y/n) replies, ever so glad to feed information. “I found it in the Asylum, in a room that was blocked off from the rest. We would’ve never noticed that room, unless we stopped to take a good look at it..” 

“We?” 

Oh.. should she say? “Y-yeah, me and a teammate.”

Jake hummed lowly, but said nothing more. He sets the picture down and picks up the next object that catches his curious eye. It was a neat drawing, made mediocre by wrinkles, amorphous from being previously crumbled up, but Jake could spot what the artist tried to draw. “.. A little boy and his.. friends? That’s creepy, where the hell did you find this?”

“The Mine. Also, it’s not creepy! It looks adorable.”

Jake snorts. “Children drawings in a place like that would’ve weirded some people out. It’s never adorable.”

“Well.. that’s your opinion.” (Y/n) makes a small pout and takes the drawing back.

“Never said it was a fact.” Jake banters and moves on to the next item: an oddly, hand-crafted doll matted in dirt and grass stains. It’s threads of blonde “hair” are ripped out in some spots and it was missing an eye. The dress seemed.. pretty at least? The pink velvet-like material still felt durable under all of the dirt.

“See..? Creepy as fuck.” Jake waves the doll from one side to another, the threads flailing around.

(Y/n) forces down a laugh. “Jake, stop it..! The doll probably belonged to the Huntress, she wouldn’t want you to ruin it.”

“Ruin it? Really? Really (Y/n), I’ll ruin it?” He waves the doll around again. “This thing is already beyond saving, what makes you think she’ll want this back?”

(Y/n) frowns almost childishly. “Maybe it’s sentimental to her!”

“Sentimental to her nightmares probably, look at this thing..”

“You don’t kno-“

“I don’t know that, yeah, sure.” Jake enunciates each word with a shake of the doll and (Y/n) looks away quickly to the pile, she didn’t want to chuckle at his dark humor.

“So mean.” She mumbled.

“I love you too.”

(Y/n) smiles when he says that. Ever since their uhm- Discussion the other day.

Or night.

Things have been going normally. No one died at the campfire, no one died mysteriously at the trials, everyone is dubiously happy and questionably healthy. (Y/n) and Jake’s relationship, though still weighed with tension by the heavy secret they chose to carry, is back to normal. They slept comfortably together, teased each other, and talked as if nothing happened that day. 

(Y/n) felt grateful for Jake’s understanding, but she is still skeptical by how fast he.. changed. Surely, a murderer couldn’t just stop the innate desire of killing, could they? They would have to go through solitude, therapy, and find some sort of rehabilitation to lighten their darkened mindsets. Right?

The woman wanted to believe that she was Jake’s “rehabilitation”, but it felt completely absurd. Oh well. Change comes through action, not just words. Jake said he’s going to stop killing and as of now, he held back whatever urges he had for a while. That’s more than enough for (Y/n).

“What’s this uh.. tag for?” Jake’s quiet, rough voice broke through her thoughts. (Y/n) turns around and sees a tag with one of it’s edges torn off, it looked like it was detached from something. Or someone, knowing this realm. The paper is stained with a glowing substance, which Jake quickly recognizes as blight.

“Élodie found it during a trial with the Blight. She didn’t want it sooo, I took it.” (Y/n) explains.

“Why? It looks boring.”

“Because it might mean something!”

“Like?”

“.. We’ll see.”

“You don’t know.”

“I-I said we’ll see, now shush.”

Jake chuckles to himself, grabbing another item without paying attention. The object felt round, smooth, and easy to crush with only few resistance, but not a single flaw on the ball he held.

Wait. Ball?

The man glances at the spherical object in hand.

“.. You brought in an apple?” He sat up straight and fixed his posture, staring at the apple like it was his new lover. The fruit is bigger than most apples he’s seen, it is a beautiful red color with a bit of shine, like a fruit that was freshly harvested from it’s tree, gaining all the nutrients from it. The apple was so delectable, supple, and perfectly ripe the man knew it was going to be juicy once he sinks his teeth i-

“Jake, stop..! Don’t eat that!” Comes in (Y/n)’s panicked voice.

Jake blinks and closes his mouth, gulping before he drooled. “Wh-why the fuck not?” He asked incredulously, feeling so double-crossed by this that he actually huffed. Although he and the rest of the campers are never hungry, he hasn’t had food in AGES, good food at that. Not to mention that red apples are usually incredibly sweet, along with the right amount of mixture of sourness. It’s the taste that counts, the taste.

“It’s not yours, that’s why! It belongs to the Priestess.”

“Okay, I know she isn’t going to eat it. She’s just going to waste it by throwing it u-“

“Jake! Listen, listen. If I find another apple I’ll give it to you, okay?”

“You’re torturing me. You’re a sadist.” He sets the apple back in the small pile, seemingly done with rummaging through it for now, angered by the hunger that isn’t there.

“Aaw, Jake..” (Y/n) cooes and moves around the pile, sitting in front of the pouting man. “The next time we’re in a trial, you can search for an apple with me, that way it’ll be easier.”

The man grumbled.

(Y/n) continues. “I’ll bring an offering for the place as well. Just hope we don’t see the Huntress.”

“Mmm, alright alright, fine.” He smiles now and it swells (Y/n)’s heart because of how content he seems. His dark-brown eyes lit up with delight, irises becoming lighter for a-

Huh? 

There it is again. His eyes are doing that thing. That one thing.

“.. Jake? What’s happening with your eyes?”

“What? My eyes..? Is there something in them?”

“Yes. I-I mean.. not really, they just got lighter for some reason, then they go back to normal. What’s with that..?”

As (Y/n) explains, Jake brings a hand to his eye, but stops once he touches his eyelashes. “Hm? Uhh.. It doesn’t feel weird. Are you sure you’re not just goin’ crazy..?” He teased.

“I’m not crazy!” 

“I’m sure.”

“Jake!” (Y/n) keened, brows upturned in distress. “I know what I saw.”

The woodsman blew air out of his nose and closed his eyes, thinking. “... So there’s something making my eyes lighter?”

“Yes!”

He opens them. “Well. If you were expecting an answer, I don’t have one. Sorry.” He shrugged, uncaring of such a trivial issue.

(Y/n) sighed, defeated. Ah well, it isn’t that big of deal. So what if Jake’s eyes got lighter? As long as it isn’t a health issue, she shouldn’t worry. Not like they had to worry so much about health anyway, again, they were never hungry and lost nor gained any weight whatsoever. They only had to worry about being injured and/or bleeding out during trials.

Or you know, dying.

“C’mon.” Jake interrupts (Y/n)’s thoughts once more. “I wanna look at more of this stuff with you. What are those.. documents over there?”

“Oh! They’re um, they’re actually notes. It has some disturbing letters in it.”

Jake’s brown eyes glint with sudden interest. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

**_ Help _ **

Jake left to have a meeting with his quartet, leaving (Y/n) all by herself in the tent. The woman didn’t know how long it’ll be, but she can wait. After all, it’s quite noble how the four sets themselves responsible for the well-being of the entire group, despite everyone being able to handle themselves and survive with their own perks.

There’s been a change however, she noticed that ever since the murders around the site occurred, the four haven’t been as close. 

Meg Thomas, who was usually headstrong and put her friends before herself, now became a bit more selfish in terms of survival. She’s quick to leave behind anyone that isn’t close to her, but would still offer herself for the Killer to chase her, instead of them.

Dwight Fairfield, whose leadership skills are still unrivaled, have gotten more paranoid and skittish. Occasionally, he seeks emotional support from either his three friends, mainly Jane or David, but aside from that he’s still the group’s nervous leader.

Nothing has really changed with Claudette, other than she’s less involved with others. Being the shy woman who will only open up to those that get to know her, she’s always kind to the people of the camp and that, (Y/n) guessed, will probably never change.

Thank goodness.

Jake, well.. Once a man that kept to himself, he turned against the Survivors for a brief moment. (Y/n)’s glad that moment is gone, but for how long exactly? He’s lied to her once, he’ll most certainly do it again. That’s how liars work. Right? 

Ah.. but, she has no place to be thinking like this. Right? She’s lied to him before and stolen one of his belongings as well. Damn.. (Y/n) strongly considers having a heart-to-heart with Jake as soon as possible.

A lot about Jake has changed and (Y/n) is beginning to trust him again though, she didn’t know if dwelling on the past would be healthy at this time, but she eventually chose not to.

One thing’s for sure, she loves Jake dearly.

She also loves Claudette, Yui, and even.. Even Danny.

...

Poor Danny, he’s suffering in the Void and there’s nothing she could do about it for now. There’s that serum she er, stole from Jake and hid within a shirt Yui gave her long ago, but in a all reality she doesn’t know what to do with the serum.

The man didn’t even notice one of his vials went missing, it seems. Or he did and said not a word about it. He does tend to see through (Y/n) at most times. Most times. 

Still. She needs help with finding out exactly how to release Danny from the Void. The serum is blight, right? Seeing how the monster, The Blight, himself always injects himself to gain power, maybe Danny has to do the same in order to escape. Makes sense? Or would that be dangerous to the man? She doesn’t know. Jake knows, or maybe Claudette knows. Too bad they’re busy right now.

Hm.. 

There’s one other person in mind.

Grabbing the vial from her shirt and stuffing it shamelessly into her bra, (Y/n) crawls out of the tent and slips on her shoes. She stands and stretches for a second or so, releasing the tension in her back and arm muscles. Once she’s no longer stiff, (Y/n) glances over at the quartet sitting near the bonfire, just chatting away about.. well, whatever they talked about, it was none of (Y/n)’s business. The woman eyes the fluffy-haired man amongst the four, smiling when he scowled at something one of his friends said. 

His little frowns were so cute at times. She’ll never let him know that, though.

She turns away after she sees him adjust the grey camouflage scarf around his neck, not risking being teased for staring at him.

Alright. Where is she?

(Y/n) looks around the site for a certain blonde-haired woman. Asking this of her was near suicide, considering how much she hated Danny, but she had to try. She needed her to be there, in case things go wrong with trying to free him from the Void. Or if she didn’t want to venture the place, (Y/n) would just have someone who trusts her tag along and she’s fine with that. Sure she could ask Jake, but he would worry too much about (Y/n). Not only that, but she’s almost one-hundred percent sure that Jake was one of the people who were against Ghostface helping them. He never gave an opinion on it, but his hooded, annoyed eyes said it all. That’s only an assumption, however.

(Y/n) could ask Claudette, but very much like Jake, the medic was going to worry about her (possibly more than Jake does, if she’s being honest here). She also didn’t fancy the idea of Ghostface helping them, but was way more lenient than the rest.

The only person who truly and completely trusted (Y/n) to take care of herself is Yui Kimura. Their trial with the Spirit was proof, their trial with Ghostface is also proof. Somewhat. Hell when Yui was skeptical about Jake, she never forced (Y/n) away from him. The street-racer allowed (Y/n) to express her boldness and be independent. Although Yui hated Danny with all of her heart, (Y/n) was sure she had more of a chance to succeed with Yui than she does with either Jake or Claudette. She appreciates them greatly, but truth be told, Yui fitted this specific role more than them.

Now.. if only she could find her tent. This is odd, (Y/n) never visited Yui’s tent. That’s going to change immediately.

They all looked the same, save for a few having some items in front of them. The woman tried looking for Yui’s boots, but who knows what she’s wearing today. 

Hm.

(Y/n)’s scanning gaze landed to a small group of campers chatting: Nea, David, and Jeff. (Y/n) could ask them, once she simmers down the nervousness boiling up from never saying a single letter to the three. She has try, or she’ll get no where.

Oh boy.. here we go.

“Excuse me..?” (Y/n) spoke in a meek voice, blinking when the trio instantly turned their attention to her.

“Whaddya want? We’re all busy here.” David spoke first, voice framed with annoyance. (Y/n) quickly assumes it’s because of the fact she’s with Jake, since he and the brawler never got along. 

“Think you’re too bougie to talk to us normally, miss ‘Excuse me?’” Nea mocks (Y/n)’s formality with a smirk, her own airy voice rumbling with laughter. 

Oh.. Understandable.

(Y/n) steps away, mumbling an apology before she turns around to ask someone else.

“Hey! I’m kidding, I’m kidding come back! ‘Ey!” Nea cackles with more laughter, grabbing (Y/n)’s arm and tugging the surprised woman back to her. “Come back, I was only kidding, damn.. I don’t know about David though, he’s pretty much an asshole to everyone except me and Dwight.”

“Shut yer-!“

“Anywaaay!” Nea obnoxiously raises her pitch, drowning out David’s voice. “What’s up, (Y/n)? Whatcha need, girl?”

Although her heart was beating loudly, the woman in question relaxes, making Nea loosen her hold and eventually let go of her arm. “Sorry to bother, but.. have you seen Yui?”

“Yui? Uuuhhhhh-“

“She went in the forest, that way.” Jeff speaks up, thumb pointing in a direction behind him. “I’d be careful if I were ya, she didn’t look too cheerful about going there.”

“When does Yui ever look happy? In fact, how are you two even friends?” Nea complains.

“Secret.” Jeff replies simply, shrugging.

“Oh? Oohh, I see. So you two fu-“

“Ahhh, no one wants to ‘ear that!” David groans, sparking an argument with the young, iconoclastic woman.

Jeff sighs and looks to the confused (Y/n), shaking his head slowly. “She’s over there, where I pointed. Good luck.” Then he involves himself in the argument, creating excuses that Nea refuses to believe. 

“Thank you. All of you.” (Y/n) says loud enough for them to hear, then leaves the trio to debate.

“Yeah right! You said it was a secret so - You’re welcome (Y/n)! - so you two gotta be in ‘cahoots’!” Nea winks at Jeff, icy-blue eyes shining in sheer mischief, causing the long-haired, bearded man to face-palm.

**_ Lucky Break _ **

“No.”

“Yui, please-“

“He can burn alive over and over in the Void and I would pay trillions to see it.”

“Okay, you don’t have to be there for him, just help me. Please!”

“Helping you means helping him, so no. Nuh-uh.”

“Just this once! Please, he’s been helping us and all he got in return is being thrown into the Void.”

“Danny is a criminal, so let him rot there.” Yui scoffed, tucking her short, pink hair behind an ear. The racer is looking a bit pinked out today, wearing a torn, white shirt with a black sports bra underneath. Her pants are baggy, dark-grey with pink accents and matching boots. Her gloves were the same as her boots, dark-grey with white outlining them. Around her left arm is her pink Hachimaki, thicker than usual and oddly mixed with purple.

This woman’s fashion sense was impeccable.

“Yui..” (Y/n)’s heart dropped. She knew this was going to be hard, but she isn’t going to give up. After all, convincing Jake or Claudette would’ve been a different circle of hell. “You’re the only person I can trust with this. We can’t let Danny go, he aided us!”

“Uh huh and when he goes back to earth, he’ll go back to being a killer. Danny has been using us (Y/n)! We’re his only ticket out and he’s gonna take it. He won’t learn a thing, he’s a goddamn sociopath.”

There was a solemn moment of silence, the creaking of branches and dry leaves wavering along with the wind surrounding the forest. Some of the leaves fell from the branches, freely falling past (Y/n) and Yui.

“I’m going to the Void.” (Y/n) firmly decides.

“Really?” The racer takes a step closer. “How?”

“If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it a secret.”

“Your secret is always safe with me. What is it?” Her eyebrows lowered with curiosity, light-brown eyes observing (Y/n).

“Here.” (Y/n) reaches in her bra and pulls out the vial warmed by her bosom, it makes Yui perplexed that she could hide such a thing without anyone noticing. 

“What is that thing?” Yui reaches out to grab it, only for her hands to grasp air as (Y/n) pulls it away with a cheeky smile.

“It’s called Blight serum. Remember when Jake, Dwight, and Claudette began harvesting them from those flowers?”

The racer raises an eyebrow. “You mean the flowers that look like they eat meat to survive? Yeah, Min and I have been thinking about harvesting them ourselves, so we could help with this escape plan.. Claudette won’t let us know all of the details for some reason..but go on.”

(Y/n) gives a little chuckle at her humor. “There’s a serum that releases us from the Void. I would have to.. um. I would have to somehow trick the Entity into thinking I’ve given up hope. It’ll sent me there, Danny and I will have a dose of the serum theen.. we’re out!”

Yui hums in approval, crossing her arms. “Ah I see, I see. And that is the serum that will free you from the Void?”

. . .

A gust of wind comes by, messing up the womens hair a bit.

Yui growls. “Okay fine, I asked an obvious quest-“

“Actually, I don’t know if it’ll free us or not.” (Y/n) said with a toothy smile.

Yui’s eyes widens in disbelief. “What!?”

“Yep.”

“You.. y-you couldn’t just wait for an actual medicine or serum, or whatever that’s legit?!”

“Nnnope. I’m just winging it with this one.”

Yui steps closer again, directly face to face with (Y/n) now. “And if it doesn’t work..?”

“Well.. then we’ll find a way out.”

Yui sighs at that response, pinching the bridge of her nose. “... You dumb bitch.. You know this isn’t gonna sit well with Claudette, right?” She doesn’t mention Jake, but (Y/n) knows he’s on Yui’s mind as well. 

“I-I know. But, I have to try. It feels wrong to leave Danny there.”

“So you’re willing to sacrifice everything you have here just to save his sorry ass?”

(Y/n) shakes her head, timidly so. “No, but.. You told me not to be afraid of any gods, Yui. If this one is easily influenced, then I have nothing to worry about.”

“I.. did say that, but what do mean by it’s easily influenced?”

Aaand this is where (Y/n) has her. With another smile she replies: “Not everything here is created by the Entity, you know..? If I come back from the Void, I’ll tell you all about it!”

Yui scowls, visibly stricken with multiple questions in mind. “Ugh.. fine! I’ll help you, alright? There’s no fucking way I’m leaving you alone in this, we fight together and we stick together.”

(Y/n) nearly jumps out of her shoes in excitement. “Thank you, Yui!”

“Yeah, yeah. This is stupid, but way too stupid to pass up.. Ah! Since you’re here and we’re on this silly topic- I almost forgot.”

“Hm?” (Y/n) tilts her head, wondering what the racer has in mind. She watches as Yui’s hand unties the pink and purple Hachimaki around her arm, making (Y/n) realize that it isn’t one, but two pieces of cloth tied to each other. Yui unravels the pink and purple cloth, handing the latter over to (Y/n). 

“Here, put it on your arm. My Hachimaki seemed to give you bad luck instead of good luck, the last time you wore it. Well.. that’s just because it’s made for me.” She winks, pleased when she sees (Y/n) look at the purple piece in silent awe. “So, why not make one that’s meant for you? Here! My gift, take it or else.” 

Once Yui’s playful threat bores through (Y/n)’s blank mind, the woman snaps out of her daze with a small shake of her head, then grabs the purple Hachimaki.

“Y-you made it for me.”

“Of course. I said I was going to do it, duh.” Yui giggles, happily. It was the happiest giggle (Y/n) has ever heard from the racer and it makes her heart leap.

(Y/n) breathes in. Then, she breathes out. She ties the Hachimaki around her forearm, seeing the Japanese characters become unreadable with the twisted fabric. The cloth feels nice and new, (Y/n) wonders where Yui even got it from. No matter, she’s going to wear it religiously.

“Thank- ahem.. Thank you, Yui..!”

Yui ties her own Hachimaki around her arm, then nods sharply. “Don’t mention it, let me know whenever you’re ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good luck out there.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	15. Stubbornness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !Trigger Warning: Suicide.!
> 
> Putting that there to be safe.
> 
> Summary: A duo faces many hardships towards reaching their goal.
> 
> This chapter is pretty long. I think.

**_ Devoid _ **

It wasn’t easy.

Ohhhh, it was not easy.

The Entity, while Claudette claims that influencing it is near elementary, the spider-like devil isn’t dumb by any means. (Y/n) learns that the hard way. 

Where to start:

First, it was the site learning that Danny disappeared into limbo. The Ghostface not appearing in trials and Claudette giving stories about what happened forced (Y/n) and Yui to wait until they start their plan. They didn’t want people becoming suspicious of them, creating a pattern of them getting discarded along with Danny. Especially (Y/n), since the murderer helping them was her idea.

Next, it was tricking the Entity into thinking she’d given up hope. She and Yui did absolutely nothing during trials except rescue others who have been hooked. They wore darker clothing in order to keep from being spotted, they didn’t touch generators, totems; dull or cursed, even chests were a no-go. The women hid in the corners of the maps, occasionally moving along so the crows won’t give away their position. The process was hell to Yui, as she was deliberately screwing over her friends in an attempt to save a man she despises. Not only that, the racer is curious about the Void and didn’t want (Y/n) going into such a cruel place alone. At this point, was she doing this for Danny? (Y/n)? Or just to satiate her questions about the Void. All of the above? She didn’t know yet, but she’ll find out.

(Y/n) on the other hand, while used to wandering around during trials and not doing anything to help her team, avoided going into them with Claudette or Jake. Or both. She didn’t want them to catch onto her behavior, lest she would probably have to reveal her bizarre intentions. Along with this, the waiting killed her. The times she and Yui escaped or died, only to come right back to the campfire was a disappointment. They were getting somewhere, but they were also getting nowhere. When Yui brought up the possibility that they weren’t getting sent to the Void because, well, they aren’t actually losing hope, (Y/n) felt like she was officially the most moronic person in this god forsaken realm to exist.

And she was fine with that, really. Making questionable decisions are okay, but how did she not think of that?

After receiving Yui’s food for thought, there needed to be an immediate change of plans. A drastic change of plans:

They would have to get themselves sacrificed enough to lose hope. The proposal, while originally and undoubtedly scary, didn’t seem so after giving it some more thought.

“We’ll come back, right? The serum, (Y/n).” Said Yui, wearing a confident smirk amongst her features. “Even if we don’t, someone will come get us and we’ll be back to our normal selves, yeah?”

And that’s how it began. Yui and (Y/n) were on a mission of purposely getting themselves sacrificed. As soon as they were hooked, they would attempt to pull themselves off, furtherenticing the Entity. At times they succeeded in unhooking themselves, leaving an addicting sense of achievement while going to get themselves hooked again. Once the Entity is summoned and tries to take them, they’d just let it stab them and that was that.

But, boooy did that also come with it’s own share of problems.

_“Hon, why are you lettin’ it kill you!?”_

_“Where have you been!?”_

_“We needed ya!”_

_“Just stay away from me before you get me killed!”_

(Y/n) was able to handle such bombardment with no issues, however, it nearly broke her heart whenever Yui struggled to come up with an answer. Despite her explosive temper, she was always a team player and forced herself to remain calm when the situation calls for it. Becoming almost the opposite of that attracted unwanted attention, but she handled it surprisingly well. Yui would eventually suck it up, give them a straight face, and a bitter piece of her mind. If they confronted her again, she promised them that she will take it a step further than just words. That was all she had to say.

One may think it would end there for the duo.. but it didn’t. Dealing with people and their concerns was just the very tip of the iceberg, the real trouble came when the constant, back-to-back sacrifices took a great toll on their soul. Every time the campers were sacrificed, the Entity ate a small piece of their soul. It was noticeable that something inside of them felt empty, but it was also so tiny that they forgot about it. Getting sacrificed at almost every trial felt different: It was draining, tiring, left them demotivated and languid. 

(Y/n) and Yui are losing themselves.

For Yui, the first thing to go was her anger. Her feistiness dimmed down to weak insults with the occasional outburst, even then, the outburst isn’t as impactful as before, but it still left the victim bamboozled. The next thing to go was her confidence, she’s no longer running the Killer around for miles when she’s being chased, in fact as soon as the Killer spots her, she gives up. The fire in her soul is being doused into ashes, due to willingly feeding the flames to the Entity. Her friends that stuck around began feeling worried for Yui, but there’s only so much that they could do. 

The good news is that she still cherishes her Hachimaki. She only thinks about that and her grandfather, especially when she’s alone. The racer began talking to it, having conversations with the cloth while weirding some people out. She didn’t care. Upon losing so many emotions, she’s content with clinging onto the one thing she loves the most.

For (Y/n), it was almost the same with some differences. She’s lost her compassion towards anyone except for Jake, Claudette, and Yui. Her attention lands on Min once in a while, but ever since (Y/n) started letting the Entity kill her, the two inevitably grew apart. The woman focused her attention mostly on the woodsman though, since, like Yui with her Hachimaki, Jake is the person she loves the most.

(Y/n) didn’t spend her trials looking for items of sentimental value, she didn’t look for an alternate escape, she didn’t even rescue Survivors as much. She once let Ace die when the man was pushed on a meathook a second time. She didn’t help Zarina when the poor woman was bleeding out on the ground, and the outrage truly began when she left Dwight, the leader, die on hook.

Leaving people to die was bad itself, but you don’t ever leave Dwight to die. It was an unspoken rule around the site, to defend him as much as he protected them.

David was there when it happened. The rugged man stayed on a generator when (Y/n) looked like she was going to pull the office man off the hook. David was horrified when a booming, orange wave pulsed throughout the sky of the Backwater Swamp, confirming the death of Dwight Fairfield. When the brawler angrily confronted (Y/n) about this, she only ignored him. 

As stated before, this caused an outrage, albeit little. Jake, who was already skeptical of (Y/n)’s passionless behavior, tried fruitlessly getting answers out of her while keeping her away from the campers.

_“What happened to you?”_

_“What can I do to help?”_

_“Why the fuck are you killing yourself like this..?”_

This. This shattered (Y/n)’s heart. Jake tried so hard not to have her get sent to the Void. He’d go to every single trial with her, didn’t allow her to leave his side, and when he could sacrifice himself he would. Since the blight is still active and almost reaching it’s peak, the man goes out more to find (or make) additional solutions to save others from the limbo. He demanded (Y/n) to stay in the tent and she wasn’t allowed to leave until he came back. 

Claudette often visits when Jake wasn’t around to get answers for herself. Being a lot gentler, she only soothed and lulled (Y/n) to sleep with her concerns. The botanist cried once and the tears fueled a spark of emotion within (Y/n), but not enough to tell Claudette what was going on.

Predictably, the medic gave up.

(Y/n) learns to work around Jake and feeding herself to Entity. It was extremely difficult with him practically carrying her out the exit gates, but she succeeds maybe.. one out of ten times. The same goes for Yui and her friends, notably Jeff. Being a physically strong woman, he was one of the few people who could handle her strength whenever she protested.

It was a slow, slow and excruciatingly painful process. The women began blacking out at random points in the realms, memories choppy and unreliable. Some days, (Y/n) finds herself in Claudette’s tent. Some days in Yui’s tent. Others were odd and she’d wake up in the middle of the forest. 

One day, the women finally got what they wanted.

**_ Effort _ **

It all started before the two were called to a trial. Yui was speaking quietly to her Hachimaki, fingers tracing fondly along the soft fabric and the black, Japanese characters. (Y/n) never left Jake’s side in their tent. She didn’t talk to him, but her clinginess was more than enough for the saboteur. When the time came, he comes along with (Y/n) and Yui, switching out his blighted uniform for his bloody clothing. Claudette offers to take an early trial as well, grabbing a heavy-looking Med-Kit, wearing her own bloodied attire, and going in with a determined face. 

The trial begins:

Their enemy was the Hillbilly, ready to use his chainsaw and shed a ton of blood for his master. Much to Claudette’s chagrin, they couldn’t split independently or else.. well, you know. Jake took (Y/n) along and Claudette took Yui along, with a bit of a fight from the racer.

It was going smoothly. Whenever the Hillbilly approached, they would sneak away from the generators or from wherever they were doing to hide, blend, be as immersive as they could. The cornfields and the Farmhouse were great at doing this for them, frustrating the Hillbilly even more than he already is. Jake and Claudette searched chests for toolboxes to speed up generator repair, since being the only two to repair the machines proved itself complicated. It’s fine though, the earlier they get this done, the earlier they could try to interrogate the women, (Y/n) guessed. 

With no one hooked once and eventually two generators left, the Hillbilly’s bloodlust grew. Blinded by anger, he’d lose a Survivor immediately after hitting them with his mallet and after they slammed a pallet on him. He longer cared about pleasing the Entity, he only wanted to spill the blood of those who dared made him upset. He revved his chainsaw over and over until it overheated, using his mallet as replacement for what the chainsaw could not do. The monster was lacking. That was great.

When the final generator got repaired, it was time to leave the rancid looking and smelling farm. Claudette, with Yui still in hand, goes to open one gate while Jake pulls (Y/n) along to open the other. He wished he found a key so they could escape through the black lock and not have to worry about the Killer patrolling the gates, but we can’t have everything, can we?

Certainly. Upon hearing the chainsaw in the distance, Jake lead (Y/n) away from the half-powered door and ushered her behind large trees and bushes. They watched as the Hillbilly smashed himself into the door, the chainsaw creating screeching scratches and some dents on the metal. Looking around, the monster readied his brutal weapon once again and ran away when he found nothing in Jake’s and (Y/n)’s area. He didn’t even search the place for at least five seconds and the fact made Jake snort. 

Getting out of the hiding place, he arrives back at the gates and pulls down on the lever. Before his doors opened, the other gate opened and caused the world around them to tremble and collapse into dust.

There were out at this point. So what went terribly wrong?

Just as Jake and (Y/n) were about to leave, Claudette’s scream echoed throughout the grounds. It stopped the couple in their tracks with worried looks plastered on their faces. A second later, Yui’s scream rang next, sending chills down their spines.

“Stay here (Y/n) and don’t fucking move. If you hear him coming, leave.” Jake ordered, running out of the safety of the gates to help Yui and Claudette.

_Mistake number one._

Arriving at the scene of their downfall, the Hillbilly picked up Yui first and carried the limping woman to a hook. Jake tries to ignore the fact that she isn’t struggling and goes to recover Claudette instead. Using her fallen Med-Kit, the man began patching his friend up when he asks, “What happened?”

“I-I got greedy. I was so close to opening the doors when he came. I got them.. I got them opened but..” The botanist hisses in pain, the large gash on her back spiking pain throughout her body.

Jake sighs, annoyed, but not at Claudette. “I see.. Come on, get up.” He says once he finishes wrapping an abdominal dressing on Claudette’s back, helping the still injured woman back on her feet, just in time for Yui to be hooked. They didn’t even hear a scream, but they knew she needed their help.

“You’re still bleeding.. Stay here, I’ll go-“ Jake shuddered. A third screech filled the air of the chilly farm, a scream he instantly recognizes as (Y/n)’s voice. 

_Mistake number two._

He didn’t have time to think, not as Claudette tried to shout at him as he turned around and ran towards the direction of the voice, chanting in his mind over and over again that he’d make it on time. Focusing on the auras, Jake sees that (Y/n) is downed near Yui, who was struggling against the hook to summon the Entity.

Shit.. It’s no use, he had to let her die. 

The man lingers near the Killer when he picked up (Y/n), carrying the woman to another hook as Yui successfully summoned the Entity’s claws and allows it to consume her soul. The sacrifice had gone differently this time: Instead of a yellow pulse covering the sky, it was pitch black with dark-red hues. More of the Entity’s claws came to collect Yui’s body and her soul, the cold air lowering in temperature at her death.

Jake had an idea about what this meant, but he did not want to think about it.

He hid when it was (Y/n)’s turn on a meathook. Like Yui, she didn’t cry in pain as the metal pierced her shoulder, but unlike Yui she didn’t try to summon the Entity.

Good.

Jake waited for the Hillbilly to leave, watching as the monster limped away on a bad knee to find more Survivors. Once Jake’s heartbeat calms down, he moves away from his hiding spot and sneaks towards (Y/n). The man reaches up, grabs her waist, and began pulling her off almost effortlessly.

Almost.

The air suddenly got knocked out of his lungs as he stumbled back, coughing a few times and staring at (Y/n) in shock.

She kicked him away.

“N-no! Run!!” She yelled, now trying to resist in order to call upon the Entity to take her.

Jake didn’t respond. He didn’t have time to. Although calm, his eyes raced with panic. He tried pulling her off again, initiating a tug of war between him and (Y/n), the resistance only speeding up the sacrifice. 

Behind him, a loud chainsaw pierced his eardrums, letting him know that he has only mere seconds to save (Y/n) or be killed.

So what does he choose?

He’s stubborn. Jake’s back spews with copious amounts of blood as he falls to the ground, his filthy windbreaker and the skin on his back torn and flayed by the chainsaw. More blood drips from his mouth due to the deep wound, the loss tampering with his vision and his hearing. 

_ Final Mistake. _

The man could only watch helplessly as the Entity materializes and kills (Y/n), the red and black auras from before blanketing the booming sky. The air was nearly freezing, made colder when the Hillbilly picked him up and goes to plant his shoulder on another hook. Jake didn’t even struggle, he was shook by the possibility that both (Y/n) and Yui got sent to the Void.

Why?

Maybe he shouldn’t have told Claudette to stay.

Maybe he shouldn’t have gone to save Yui, especially knowing that she’s prone to kill herself.

Maybe, just fucking maybe, he shouldn’t have left (Y/n) alone in the first place. 

He thought he had it under control, but as an injured Claudette rescues him from the meathook and they made their escape, Jake realizes just how little of control he was in this situation.

That, is going to change.

**_ Limbo _ **

“...ey. H-hey, wake up!”

“Mmmph..”

“You’re...not...you? ... Get up.”

“Ugh...”

“Get your lazy ass up! We’re here!”

(Y/n) gasped and jumped awake, finding herself in a place where she did not recognize. 

Oh.. Oh wait, is this it?

(Y/n) sat up, eyes adjusting to her environment and landing on a blonde-haired woman named Yui. She was pale-white and had bags under her eyes, but otherwise, the racer remained beautiful.

“We made it.. didn’t we?” (Y/n) asks.

“Look around you.”

And that, she did. Finding piles and valleys of discarded, wailing souls, damned to suffer for as long as the Entity lives. The place didn’t smell like anything, it didn’t feel like anything either. It was bland, creepy, and downright.. empty. Depressed bodies roamed the place as if it were their home, some are more aware than others, some are literally brain-dead like zombies. The sky is a light, pale-orange color with cirrus clouds swirling around, threatening a large tornado that never actually formed.

Their only source of music are the groans and the whispers of the discarded, empty cries and melancholic screams of help. They thought the life before this was hell, they were in for a nasty treat.

(Y/n) drew a shaky sigh. Though she felt as hollow as the souls around them, she still had the conviction that they will find Danny.

And her love for Jake went untouched.

It seems the duo managed to trick the Entity after all, with a big, big cost. 

“We can’t sit here and lounge around all day. You got the medicine?”

(Y/n) giggles, shoulders shaking as she stood up. “Serum, Yui.” She teases.

“Whatever it’s called.” Yui does the same, casually brushing away the lost spirits who tried grabbing her arm. “Don’t touch me.” She grumbled.

“I got the serum.” (Y/n) reaches in her pocket and reveals the vial wrapped neatly in her purple Hachimaki. Unraveling it, the glass only had a small crack from the lady being dangerously pursued by the Hillbilly, but it was nonetheless, “Safe and sound.” 

“Perfect. Let’s get moving.” Yui grabs (Y/n)’s free hand, offering to lead. “I’m letting you know right now, I am scared. So let’s stay together like always, understand me?”

“Of course.” (Y/n) nods, going quiet so the two of them could focus on finding Danny.

Hm..

Yui scoffed. “All of this for that scumbag.” She mumbled. “I can only imagine what everyone would think if they found out.”

Jake and Claudette’s face flashes in (Y/n)’s mind, causing the woman to feel a pit of regret in her stomach, to feel saddened, but unable to produce any tears. 

“I-I do have regrets. Seeing Jake’s face as he tried to save me w-was.. was..But, we’ll be fine in the end.” Dammit, she couldn’t finish. It was too heart-wrenching. 

“You sure?” Yui’s silky voice strained.

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They made it. At a huge cost.
> 
> Feng Min will probably be involved later.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	16. Pushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins.

**_ Search Party _ **

“There’s too many of them.” Yui groans.

“I know.” (Y/n) deadpans.

“How long have we been walking?” 

(Y/n) closes her eyes and snorts. “You tell me, heh.. You’re the one leading, Yui.”

“... I am?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Oh.. right.”

“Mmhm.”

“... There’s too many of them.” 

“I know.”

“How long have we been-“ Yui stops. They’ve had this conversation before. Not twice, many times.

“(Y/n), talk.”

The woman stays silent, but Yui doesn’t complain. In fact, she forgot that she even asked that question in the first place. (Y/n) is currently staring dead at the bodies and souls walking around, wondering if they were all from Earth or from some other planet possibly. They had human features, no doubt. Some looked more physically drained than the others: Old, weak, suffering from anorexia. Most of them were like zombies, others are more aware. (Y/n) wanted to talk to them, but she felt.. afraid? No. Just simply not obligated to.

“We’ll find Danny.” (Y/n) begins.

“I hope we don’t.” Yui scoffs.

They’ve also had this talk before.

“I know. But, we have to.”

“Whatever..”

“Yui, please. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Like?”

“Well.. I don’t know. What about, umm..” (Y/n)’s irises wanders around, from the zombies, to the circling clouds, to the glimpses of eerily rotating trees and the oozing pustulas around them, up until her gaze lands on the Hachimaki tied around Yui’s arm. (Y/n) blinks.

“Why is your favorite color pink?” She continues their dry conversation.

“It’s not pink, it’s blue.”

“.. Liar.”

“I’m not lying, it’s red.”

“.. Yui?”

“What?” She snarls.

“Your favorite color is pink.”

Yui inhales, shuddering with a chill. “W-wait, is it?

“Yes, don’t you remember..?”

“I-um. I do now.”

(Y/n) shrugs. “Okay good, sooo. Why is it your favorite color?”

“Why is what my favorite color?”

“Pink, Yui. Pink.”

“Oh, yeah. Reasons.” Yui responds flatly.

“Like what?”

“I- uhh.. Do you know what a Cherry Blossom Tree is, (Y/n)?”

The woman’s eyelids rose with realization. “Yes, I do.”

“Then you know. My team, my racing team is named after it.”

“Sakura?”

“Yes, yes.”

“That makes sense..”

“Yeah, it’s- Hold on.” Yui suddenly halts in her steps, squinting her eyes through the stormy wind and the thick fog to see ahead of her. “What the fuck..”

“Yui?” 

“(Y/n), look.”

“Why is your favorite color-“

“For fucks sake (Y/n), don’t lose me here!” Yui grabs (Y/n)’s head with both hands and turns her face. “Look!”

“Wha- Oh..” Oh. That is not good. Ahead of the duo lies a dreary, dreadful crowd full of the one person they recognized: Danny. Several of the men, though worn out and torn from head to toe, wore his iconic mask and the black cloak. The knives in their hands are brown and rusted, the blades looking too dull to even effectively stab someone to death. They were as dangerous as toddler spoons, but a little sharper. 

Some of the men walked the area without their mask, showing Danny’s features with only some differences, like appearing older or younger, or simply having a different color of eyes. However, they all shared one expression: emotionless. They made no move to maim (Y/n) or Yui as they began to tread carefully through the Ghostface crowd, aside from having their arms grabbed or some of the doppelgängers weakly reaching out for them. 

Yui breathed heavily. “H-how is that even- There’s more than one..?”

(Y/n) tried not to panic herself. “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.”

“Wait, wait a second. What if our Danny is here?” 

“H-how would we know which one’s which?!”

“I- Look. Just calm down. Let’s think for a sec.” Yui reasons, gawking around her for any sign of their Ghostface. It wasn’t easy, especially since they all look the same. Kind of. Some look like they’ve been here longer than others, groaning about with a brainless demeanor. 

Huh.

“I got an idea, (Y/n).”

The woman perks up with hope. “Y-yes..?”

“Okay, look.” Yui exhales, pointing at a Danny whose pale skin color drained ever so slowly. “See him? He obviously isn’t our Killer. He’s old, decrepit, whatever works for you, alright?” (Y/n) nods in understanding, but felt a bit confused when Yui gestures to a more.. fresher Ghostface. “This one.” Yui continues, “This one got sent here more recently than the old one. He’s still dead inside, but not as dead as grandpa over there.”

(Y/n) hums. “So, one of the more young looking ones could be our Danny..?”

“Exactly. It has to be that way, it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. We just need to look for the most um.. I dunno, lively Danny here.”

(Y/n) goes silent for a moment or so, the gears grinding and slowly turning in her head. “Okay, okay. There’s only one issue though.”

“And that is?” 

“Any of the “lively Dannys”, could’ve just gotten thrown here too.”

“... Which meeans?”

“You know.. The first one we see may or may not be our Danny. Our Danny could be older than them.”

“Oh.. shit.”

(Y/n) giggles. “Don’t worry Yui, we’re also kind of forgetting that one of them can remember us.”

Yui shakes her head. “Memory is bad here, you’ve seen what it does to me and you.”

“I know.. But, it’s something to consider.”

It was Yui’s turn to go silent, her light-brown irises never leaving the ominous crowd of clones. One of them was hopelessly sharpening his weapon with some kind of bumpy rock, another is staring directly at her and (Y/n), and another sat in a fetal position, clutching his head and quietly crying while rocking himself. 

“So, there’s more of him.” The racer gives off a solemn aura. “Does this mean there’s more of us? Dead in here..?”

(Y/n) shakes her head from one side to another. “Can we- Let’s not think a-about that.”

“But, it’s true. And soon they’ll be freed, remember? They’ll go into their own world.” Yui states fondly.

“I remember..” (Y/n) fiddles with her hands, wrapping two fingers around a thumb and shivering. “Yui, it’s.. getting cold.”

“Then hold my hand. Here, let’s get a move on.” With a nod, (Y/n) complies. Wrapping her hand around Yui’s and letting her lead. They roamed around the group, stepping over the sobbing Ghostface lying on ground and ignoring the ones who appeared undead. They instead, focused on the men who were filled with more life than most, paying attention to the men who seemed more aware of what’s going on around them.

“Goddammit.. Danny!!” Yui yells, her voice echoing amongst the Void and catching the attention of the group. (Y/n) clings onto Yui closely, hoping that her partner didn’t awaken their pent up killer instinct or anything similar. “I know you can hear me! Show yourself so that we can help your sorry ass!!”

No response, other than the crowd closing in on them with insatiable curiosity.

While (Y/n) becomes more wary of them, Yui didn’t care and kept on shouting. “If you don’t come over here in five seconds, we’re leaving you here!! FIVE!”

They move closer.

“FOUR!”

They rose their arms to grasp at the only shred of life before them.

“THREE!”

(Y/n) holds her breath, standing closer than ever to the racer. “Y-Yui? I think you’re angering th-“

“TWO!!” 

“Yui, plea-“

“ONE!! (Y/n) give me the medi-!”

A loud, inhuman groan tore through the otherworldly music of the Void, snapping both women into either confusion or into pure shock. They aren’t the ones being attacked thankfully, but the Ghostfaces and Dannys around them began flopping on the ground one by one. Be it they got their heads sliced off or they were just pushed onto the ground, someone is making the undead even more dead. If possible. No blood is being shed, rather, bits and pieces of expired flesh flayed off the bone of the men. 

The crowd stumbles and limps away from the intruder, though being dead inside and possibly out, they didn’t want to “die” or feel pain. Whichever it is. The one rolled up crying on the ground got picked up and carried by a young clone, while the frail ones struggled to get away more than others. It was mostly them who were coldly struck down, their “deaths” serving as an almost direct consequence for their weakness. Again, while they didn’t bleed, it seems they felt pain.

Eventually, the women saw the person responsible for the bloodless carnage. The man making himself known by the familiar white mask, blackened coat, and knife rusted, but sharper than the others. He wasn’t out of breath from the random, gaudy assault. He only shook and wiped the dry flesh from his knife to clean it somewhat, putting it away and dusting the extra dead skin off of his cloak. Done with maintaining his appearance, it was then he initiates a staring contest between himself and the duo, the winner being the two by default simply due to Danny wearing a mask. 

Their Killer is here.

After a beat of awkward silence, the man’s shoulders trembles for a second, then he chuckles. “.. I don’t even need my camera to remember your funny-looking faces.”

**_ Faster Way Back, Than it is There _ **

“Awee.. You two missed me? You came to rescue me? Never realized I had a fan-club.” Says a now mask-less, grinning Danny.

“No.” Yui wastes no time saying.

“Yeah..” (Y/n) answers honestly.

Danny snorts. “I don’t blame you, I bet it was boring as hell without me, huh?”

Yui growls. “Can we just go home?”

“Home?” Danny repeats, bewildered. “You call that place home? You’re more of basket case than I-“

“Talk back to me again and you’re staying here!”

“Ugh, fuck no. These people are worse than you all, at least you bleed and cry or whatever.” Danny takes out his knife and swings it through the arm of a random doppelgänger passing by, confusing the poor, wailing man whom backed away. “See that?”

“.. He’s crying?” (Y/n) meekly comments.

“Yeah he is, but it’s not as.. as.. potent. You know, it doesn’t have as much as life to it. Nothing here does. This place is hell.”

“You can say that again..” Yui mumbles in agreement, staring at the armless clone stumbling away. “Come on, let’s go back. (Y/n)?”

“Yes?”

“The medicine.”

“... Medicine?” (Y/n) raises an eyebrow, genuinely confused.

“The medicine! Fuck, I mean- serum.”

“Oh! Right, right. Umm.” (Y/n) reaches into her pocket, pulling out the vial filled with glowing, neatly extracted blight. “So. Let’s share.”

“I’m going first, no goddamn way I’m drinking after him.”

(Y/n) smiles sheepishly while Danny dramatically made an offended expression. “Waterfall it. Haven’t you heard of that?” He complains.

“I don’t care, I am not drinking or eating anything after you. (Y/n), hold the vial while take a sip.”

“Okay!” (Y/n)’s voice wavers with laughter. The woman unscrews the top of the vial and held it out carefully for Yui to drink. The racer steadies the hold with her hand, closes her eyes, raises the glass, then allows the glimmering substance to fall into her mouth.

...

_-Gulp-_

...

“Ugh!!” Yui cringes.

“W-what’s wrong?” (Y/n) blinks, eyes filled with worry.

“It’s, uck.. it’s disgusting! It smells bad, it tastes bad- How can the Blight inject himself with that?!”

(Y/n) tries so hard not to laugh at her spontaneous reaction. “Oh, Yui. You said it yourself, the flowers looks like it eats humans. That’s where the-“

“I know! I know...hah..” Yui’s skin began to turn yellow. The woman clutches her sides as she topples over on her knees, hissing and moaning in pain on the ground.

Uh oh.

Danny was the first to speak. “What’s going on with her?” He said nonchalantly.

“I-I don’t know..!” (Y/n) quickly screws the cap back on, then she reaches down and rubs Yui’s back in a hopeful attempt to ease the pain. “Y-Yui!?”

The racer doesn’t respond as her cries become louder, her skin and racing attire glowing orange now. It all happened too fast. While (Y/n) was about to panic helplessly, Yui elicits one last shout before her body separates into dust, starting with her legs. The damage made its way up to her back, leaving nothing but a pollen-like cloud in (Y/n)’s hands. The dust finally reaches to Yui’s head, diminishing her into nothing within seconds.

. . . 

“Uhh.. Is that supposed to happen?” Danny asks, burnt-orange irises darting around with slight concern. “Because I think I’d rather stay here.”

(Y/n) doesn’t say anything. A billion thoughts ran through her mind as she looks up at Danny with a tired, but saddened face, the container shaking within her grasp.

It seems to make him have a change of heart.

“Why are looking at me li- nevermind. You take it first, then I will.”

(Y/n) closes her eyes and shakes her head. “I don’t trust you.”

Danny’s chest jitters, another smile on his face. “Why not?”

She opens her eyes. “Mmm.. something’s just telling me not to leave you all alone here.”

Danny averts his gaze, still smiling when his gloved hands rises in defeat. “Okay buut, what if I don’t trust you to be alone? As a matter of fact, how did you get there?”

(Y/n) blinks, then gulps.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Don’t you Survivors have to lose hope or something to get here?”

“And how do you know that..?”

“I listen in on the conversations your little buddies have, you know? I’m not a creep for no reason.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing.

“T-that’s.. okay.”

“Yeah yeah, okay.” Danny mocks, kneeling down to (Y/n)’s level and grabbing the end of the vial. “You and Yui had to do something to get here so quickly so-” The man gives a toothy smirk and murmurs, “Did you get yourself killed over and over, for me? All for your best friend?”

(Y/n)’s eyebrows furrowed, perplexed at his odd tone. “I did, yeah.” She shifted her gaze the ground, feeling.. ashamed? Why did he ask that? For the actual truth or to only boost his ego? She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Not as Danny lowered his head and chuckled, not as he rose the vial to (Y/n)’s lips. 

“You people.. Here, my little fangirl. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Promise?”

“Mhm.”

“Da-“

“I promise.” Before (Y/n) could respond, Danny presses the glass to her lips, then drew away once some of the blight fell into her mouth. He watched as she, with difficulty, swallowed it down and stuck a bit of her tongue out. “Eeww..” 

“Damn.. Is it that nasty?” Danny muses.

“Y-yes it’s..ah..” (Y/n) coughs, one hand grabbing her side and the other stabilizing her as her body doubled over. She rolled herself up in a ball, trying to resist the pain that ran throughout each and every one of her limbs. 

Danny’s eyelids lowered, unamused. “Oh come on, it can’t be that ba-”

(Y/n) cries, then wails as her legs began parting into small specks of yellow dust, making it’s way up to her torso and shoulders. Danny stares as her body disappears before him, the ticklish pollen skimming his face and his ears no longer hearing (Y/n)’s agonizing screams.

. . . Well shit. It just might be that bad.

Danny unwillingly, but willingly held up the vial. 

His turn.

**_ Limits _ **

There was a warm hand on her back. And she didn’t want to wake up to it.

(Y/n) felt the rough, itchiness of the grass tickle one side of her body, along with a gritty mess of the soft soil beneath the dull greenery. The wind flies by, not cold nor humid, just enough to keep her warm in the middle of the..

Forest?

(Y/n) kept her tired eyes closed, but she could hear the dry leaves of the trees fluttering peacefully within the calm breeze, the branches creaking under the pressure ever so slightly. She can smell both petrified and fresh oak, the mixture becoming more natural and earthly with the grass, as well as the dirt. The woman can even feel the darkness and the bright shade of the moonlight leaving a tingling sensation on her face. Comforting. It was inviting. Did she die? Was she finally back on Earth? What would that mean for her loved ones?

No.. she couldn’t stress about it now, not in a precious moment like this. (Y/n) wanted to give herself into Mother Nature’s welcoming arms and let her cradle her for an eternity. She imagined that’s what the hand on her back was, nature’s way of keeping her safe and her soul in tranquility. The wind continues to blow with the occasional, friendly gale:

One, long swoosh.

One, short swish.

One creak, then another.

One long swoosh. Again.

Then a short swish. Again.

Two creaks, then one long swoosh and-

Wait. 

(Y/n) moaned with despair. No, nothing about this is natural. Nothing about it was home.

This is the Entity’s Realm. 

The environment is filled with nothing but repetitive fakes, like an auditorium stage being set-up “realistically” for a boring play, that happens once a year or something. Except, this happened in almost every moment of her life in this purgatory. Mother Nature here isn’t very motherly at all, it was a spider that leeches off of everything it could get it’s filthy claws on.

“(Y/n)?”

She froze, her thoughts coming to a rude, abrupt halt. That voice.. Jake? “Wake up, please..” Yeah, it was him. (Y/n) recognizes that addictive, soft but rough voice anywhere. The hand on her back suddenly got warmer, his palm giving off heat onto her back.

“I’m here..” The woman’s voice strained, forcing herself to open her heavy eyelids and stare at Jake. The man wore his usual clothing: fitting, green parka, baggy cargo pants, grey boots. Only his grey scarf and camo-gloves are missing. “I’m back..?”

Jake’s dark-brown eyes lit up with happiness that (Y/n) missed oh so dearly. His palm lovingly caressed her spine with the dull tip of his short nails. “Yeah.. you’re back.” His voice suddenly lowered.

(Y/n) nodded slowly. The woman could tell from his tone alone that he needed answers, now. “Jake, I’m-!” She tried to sit up so that she can talk to him and explain what happened, but is immediately hit with a throbbing, nauseating headache. She whined in pain, feeling Jake gently push her back down. 

“Lay down, lay down. I got you.” 

(Y/n) didn’t respond. She didn’t move, nor protested in any way when the saboteur picked her up and carried her away from the windy, “peaceful” spot she previously wanted to call home. The woman closed her eyes again, allowing the drowsiness to completely overwhelm her in seconds. She listened to the sound of Jake’s shoes crushing down dead leaves and other plants below him, the boots moving with weighed steps throughout the grass and the shuffling on the gritty soil. (Y/n) didn’t want him to stop walking. Fortunately for her, she fell asleep to his walking lullaby before he could near his tent.

. . .

(Y/n) comes to again, but her sleepy eyes still remained closed. Her senses, although slow, are working to gather information of her whereabouts, then sending images upon images of possibilities to her mind. She’s lying on something soft, a cozy blanket wrapped around in her in an attempt to shield her from the cold. The area around her was quiet, so still that she can hear her own heart beating soundly in her chest. (Y/n) can also hear and feel the presence of another person, of whom she immediately assumes to be Jake. She didn’t hear any sounds made from nature though, leading her to think that she’s resting in the safety of a tent.

The woman also felt lighter. Wait.. She moved her legs together and sure enough, she didn’t have her pants nor her socks and slippers on. Only wearing a shirt and bra, the odd situation beginning to feel comfortable instead. Huh.. She never slept like this until now. She should definitely do it more often.

Time gradually passes and (Y/n) doesn’t feel as tired as she did before. Eventually, she opens her eyes. It is still dark, the space being lit up by a dimmed light, similar to a soothing nightlight for those afraid of the dark. At first, she notices that she’s resting on a futon with a blanket draped over her entire body except her head, laid in such a way like she was sweetly tucked in. 

The second thing is the tent, which managed to wake her up even more due to how big it was, held up and stabilized by the poles that dug deeply into the ground. (Y/n) is sure that she could stand up in the tent, on the very tips of her toes, and the top wouldn’t even touch a strand of her hair. Awesome! More space is always nice and welcomed here, can’t argue with it. 

Facing the wall, (Y/n) moves her head to see Jake sitting at a.. desk? The desk itself had toolboxes, a lantern, and containers of what looked to be blight sitting on top. The man, with the same outdoorsy ensemble as before, sat with his back facing (Y/n). She couldn’t exactly tell what he’s doing, other than maybe observing the items in front of him. (Y/n) drew a sigh going unheard of by Jake. She didn’t know if it he was busy or not, but she had to get up so that she could explain herself. Better now than, well, maybe never.

With a decision in mind, she began to move slowly. Using one hand to push away the covers, finding that she’s in her spaghetti strap, pale-pink pajama top. Did Jake switched out her clothes? How sweet of him, although, he left her without any pants. 

Not that (Y/n)’s complaining. 

The woman props herself up with her other arm, letting the dizziness evade her mind for a moment, then waiting for it fade away. It doesn’t take long, after that, she positions herself on her feet and tries to stand up to stretch out her stiff body.

_-Cling-_

She gasps and immediately sat back down. What the-

_-Shing. Clank-_

Stuck in a state of shock and horror, (Y/n) quickly realizes that her wrist is surrounded by a band of metal and chained to a pole.

“W-wha?” Her immediate response is to tug harshly on the chain, the metal being heavy in her grasp and too sturdy to even think about breaking. Letting go and in slight daze of panic, (Y/n) turns to look helplessly at Jake, who is also facing her with one arm crossed and the other holding an empty glass container.

Though aware, (Y/n) ignores the stoic look on his face, opting to ask him why rather than jumping to conclusions. There had to be a legitimate reason. He wouldn’t just do this out of nowhere, he’s her boyfriend.

“Jake?” (Y/n) began. “Why am I, y-you know..” She shook the chain, emphasizing the root of her concern. However, her worry grew tenfold once the man narrowed his eyes in a piercing, downright spiteful glare. Jake remained mute when he sets the vial down and stood up from his chair. He made his way over to the sitting woman, kneeled down, then picked up the chain and held it, bending it amongst the spaces between his fingers.

“I should’ve found one for your neck.”

Her heart dropped. “.. Wha- Why would you.. why would you do this?!“

“After everything you’ve done (Y/n), why wouldn’t I? Killing yourself, getting sent to the Void for days. Really?”

Days? It felt like it’s only been hours. No, she shouldn’t be thinking about that that right now. (Y/n)’s brows upturned, evidently saddened by this, but she tried to think rationally. Did she really.. pushed Jake that far? If she was in his shoes she’d be pretty angry too, but isn’t tying up your significant other a bit too much? Once you go that far, did trust even matter?

(Y/n)’s breath began to quicken, albeit slowly. Think. Think. Think. “.. I-I’m sorry, Jake.”

The man’s expression didn’t waver, but his eyes did glint. “Why did you do it?”

“I wanted to save someone. From the Void.” Okay, explanation here we go.

“Who?”

“The Ghost Face. We need his help, remember?”

Jake goes silent. He heard about him, the Entity sending the killer into the Void and all of that. “How did you get there?”

“T-the blight, I-.. stole one of your vials.”

The man shifts his glare to floor, his jaw tightening for a split second. “Was it finished?”

“No.. I don’t think so.”

“.. And you didn’t ask me, why?”

(Y/n) pulls the covers to her chest and mumbles, “You wouldn’t have helped me.”

A beat of silence, then Jake snorts. “No. No I wouldn’t. If you were gonna kill yourself, then why the fuck would I?”

“I’m sorry, Jake..!” Her voice shook. It’s true, since the beginning she felt awful, but her morals swayed her into doing what’s right. Or at least what felt humane. She knew it would hurt Jake, she knew.

But, this much..? “Please, it’s- untie me. I wanna make it up to you, but I can’t if you do this.”

Jake looks at her again, eyeing the chain briefly. “You wanna make it up to me?”

(Y/n) nods earnestly. Things are looking a bit lighter for them now. “Of course, Jake.”

The man pulled on the chain a little, mind clouded with thoughts and different stances on his decision. He lets go of the chain, grabbing (Y/n)’s captive wrist instead.

“Show me how good you can be.”

Her heart drops. Again.

“Wh-what do you mean by that..?”

“It’s really not that hard to understand, (Y/n).” There comes the spiteful glare again along with his languid, but low tone of voice. “You’re good? Sure, I’ll get rid of the chain. You’re bad? The chain stays on.”

(Y/n) began to tremble at his words. What happened to her Jake? 

“That’s not-!”

“And every time you fuck up (Y/n), whatever happens to anyone out there will be no one’s fault, but your own.”

The woman pulled the blanket closer and looked away from him. It didn’t take a genius to know what Jake meant by that. “You said you’d stop.”

“Then give me a reason to stop.”

What? That, simply isn’t fair to them. Why would he do this? Again? Has he always been like this? Tears welled up in (Y/n)’s eyes, all of the passion that she didn’t have in the Void overshadowed her soul. “Y-you’re a murderer..” She began to sob and shout at Jake, who maintained his careless expression. “You’re cruel!! You’re heartless! You’re selfish..! You don’t care a-about anyone but yourself! I-I hate you! I hate you! I- Mmph!!”

(Y/n)’s yelling is interrupted by the man, who roughly grasped her jaw to quiet her and make her face him. Jake waits patiently, then his hand travels from her jaw and down her neck, where he held her chin up with his thumb. His face was unreadable, then he seemed a bit disappointed. “Look at you. Hasn’t even been five minutes and you’re already fuckin’ up.” Jake moves his hand to fully wrap around (Y/n)’s neck. His thumb firmly caressed her throat and windpipe, causing the still crying woman to whimper and hitch her breath. In a slight panic, her shivering hands grabbed his bigger one. 

Jake doesn’t make any move to actually choke (Y/n), but it feels as though the threat is lingering dangerously there. As a result, she says nothing. No more tears fell from her eyes. The fire she had earlier was smothered by Jake, just like that.

“Are you done crying?” 

She nods carefully, feeling his grip around her throat loosen. Jake continues, “Good. You’re just frustrated, yeah?”

(Y/n) hummed and nods again, breathing in a shuddering breath.

“I know, I know.” His glare softened, especially as he coos and releases her. “Lay back down and go back to sleep. I’ll join you later, okay?” 

He was sweet talking her. Once again. And once again, (Y/n) succumbed to it. For now, she told herself. For now. The woman stares up at Jake with a wide variety of emotions racing through her (e/c) irises, then she pulls the blankets close while lying down, strictly refusing to look at the chain on her wrist. Jake tucks in some of the blanket into (Y/n) and leans down, pushing her hair away to plant little kisses on her forehead, then on her nose. “Good girl.” He mumbles. 

(Y/n) closes her eyes, trying to push the tears away.

She needed to stop this. Now. But, how? How would she ever change his mind? Despite her outburst, she still cares deeply about Jake. He can change, anyone can. But, how..? He has a tight hold on her now, how can she get ahold of him without it being a direct gunshot to his mental health? Maybe she needed to focus on herself, before she can focus on him. Maybe he very well needed that gunshot.

Nonetheless, she firstly needed to take back one thing she said. She did not hate him and she never will, she just despised his ways. “Jake..?”

“Yeah?” His hands plays with her hair, dividing the strands into a messy look.

“I-I’m so sorry for what I said. I love you.” 

“I know you do.” He gives her one more kiss on her lips, pulling away with his own affectionate gaze, vastly different and preferable than his glares.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It starts here.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	17. Detained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and (Y/n) take moments to look back on their relationship.
> 
> Warning: Smut. Like, most of this chapter is just heavy smut. It’s also kinda long.
> 
> Warning 2: Dubious Consent. Question mark?

**_ Imprisonment _ **

_-Clink-_

_-Shing, Clank-_

(Y/n) stops to ease the prominent, burning ache in her arms and hands. She gulps down a huge lump in her throat, blinking away the annoying tears that tried to form in her eyes. ‘Okay. Don’t give up now, don’t you dare give up now, let’s try this again’, she thought to herself with weak confidence.

_-Clack-_

_-Slink-_

(Y/n) held her breath tightly, grasps the chain firmly, and tugs as hard as her strength allowed her to. The woman desperately hoped not only for the chain to snap in two, but for the metal pole it’s connected to shift in the soil. Or rather, out. At least move an inch, a centimeter, hell she’ll take even just the slightest of movement, be it hallucination or not.

_Pull, pull, pull._

She whined quietly, releasing the metal and letting it go for now. Her arms ached so much, it felt too numb to even stretch properly. Her palms received reddened scratches with tiny beads of blood and a few rough patches from pulling, dry skin further damaged because of her persistence. 

This. This isn’t right. Being confined in a tent for days upon days, not knowing where anyone else is besides Jake, not even being called to a trial. The Entity must still think (Y/n) is in the Void, or it knew she left and punished her by having her imprisoned here. It’s a god, how would it not have the power to do that? Then again, (Y/n) doesn’t know every single thing about it.

Ever since she came back, it’s been nothing but her and her murderous.. boyfriend? The woman still loves him no doubt, but would boyfriends treat their lover like this? 

No. No, no.

(Y/n) immediately holds her breath, then exhales. She couldn’t stop and worry about that now, especially not while she has a chance to escape, since Jake is gone to survive a trial. She’s been trying so hard to avoid him: Refusing to speak with him, lying on the other side of the large futon, just ignoring Jake all together. It wasn’t easy, since he’s literally the only human she sees and having zero interaction quickly got lonely, but she fought against it. Jake seemed to play along as well, giving her the space she needs all while talking to her sparingly. 

All of the weight was slowly beginning to crush her. 

What made it worse is that (Y/n) tried almost everything for freedom: Making holes through the tent proved futile, attempting to shatter a rather thick chain seemed damn near impossible, and screaming for help didn’t work. How far are they from the campsite? She couldn’t hear the fire or even people. How is Claudette? Danny? Yui? Did the last two even make it back?

Ugh..

To find out, she’ll have to leave, obviously. Breaking free will be difficult. But, she isn’t going to give up.

(Y/n) tries to relax and wait patiently for the strength to return back to her body, before she had a go at the chain again. She thought about tampering with the band and the lock, but she doesn’t have the tools to lock-pick it.

Well. In reality, she does. The woman knows with all of her being that Jake keeps his tools somewhere in this tent, toolboxes stashed right under his desk in fact, but (Y/n) couldn’t go any further than the futon she’s sitting on. The top of the desk was riddled with vials and containers, either empty or full of blight. Tied around one leg of the table was Jake’s scarf and (Y/n)’s Hachimaki. She really thought that Jake was going to throw it away or shred it in pieces. Thank any angels that existed she was wrong.

Geezus.. Aside from their personal garments, where in the world did Jake get all of this stuff? Did the Entity give out more than Med-Kits and other items? How did he-

Wait. No, no.

(Y/n) holds back another sigh and slowly shook her head, pushing Jake away from her mind for now. She needed to focus, the strength gradually came back and her arms only ached with dull pain. It was time to try again. 

Grabbing tightly at the metallic bonds, she closed her eyes, yanked harshly and tugged with every, single bit of her might. 

She felt something move! 

The woman couldn’t tell if it was reality or just wishful thinking, but it gave her the right amount of motivation to keep going. As fruitless as this may be, progress is progress and (Y/n) will gladly take it over having none at all.

So the tug of war continues. _Pull, yank, pull, pull, yank, pull-_

“Ahh!” She yelped, quickly retracting her hands away. The palm that isn’t tied from her wrist had gone from semi-cold to hot in a matter of seconds, blood pooling from a wound that ripped across her hand. The blood immediately covered her palm, dripping rapidly onto the floor below. 

Damn it. It was NOT supposed to go this way.

In a flight of panic, (Y/n) scanned the area for anything that she could use to cover up her wound with, at least something that’ll stop the bleeding. Not many options are available, only the blankets and her baby blue sleep-shirt. Using the blanket meant sleeping with bloodied sheets, so, with struggle, (Y/n) pulled the shirt up and over her head. With the clothing hanging on her chained wrist, (Y/n) took her injured hand and tore off a sizable piece of the top, having even more of hassle wrapping it around the cut.

The wound bleed easily through the fabric, spots appearing here and there, but not much. It may be enough for now, luckily for (Y/n). 

Now. How the hell did she cut herself? Yes, the metal made small scratches on her palms, but a big one like this? It made her wonder where Jake got such a terrible-

_-Zziiip-_

The woman whipped her head around, facing the opening of the tent. Dread and panic quickly builds up in her stomach as Jake Park made his way in, closing the flap behind him. Having taken off his shoes outside, the woodsman works off one of this gloves while turning to look at (Y/n), thick eyebrows scrunching at his shirtless captive.

This isn’t good. Trying get away meant trouble.

(Y/n) blinked once she caught his accusing gaze within hers, turning away once she saw his brown irises eyeing the makeshift bandage, obviously wanting an answer for that.

No.

She moved as far away as possible from him and hid her injury in front of herself. She knew well that he saw it, but she also wanted to relay the message for him to not come near her, as usual.

And it seems he got it.

After removing his gloves, she heard Jake make his way over to the desk to do.. well, whatever things that Jake did over there. (Y/n) lies down, pulling the blankets over her and ignoring the pain bumping relentlessly in her hand. Sleeping it off isn’t impossible though, once she falls asleep she wouldn’t be able to feel it, not until she wakes up of course.

“Let me see your hand.”

Oh-

(Y/n) opens her mouth to respond, but remembers that she doesn’t need to talk to him. So as it goes, she doesn’t move nor speak, only bringing the blanket to cover her head now. It stays this way for under a minute before she felt something shift, along with the presence of someone close. She felt Jake pinch the blanket and move it away, to which (Y/n) hides her face in the pillow instead. As childish as it may be, she could not afford to look at him.

No matter how much she actually wanted his attention. God, what was wrong with her..

She felt Jake’s touch around her wound, turning her wrist around so that he could see the damage. His fingers unraveled the torn shirt, letting it drop. About eight to ten seconds passed and a gel like substance is carefully applied to the cut, followed by a real gauze to patch up the wound. It stung, a lot. But it slowly began to feel better, the cool substance seeps smoothly into her skin to relieve the burning sensation.

“Better?” He asks. It did feel better yes, but (Y/n) gives him no answer. What was the point? To lessen his irritation? The woman felt righteous in this regard, yet so dumb for jeopardizing the sanity of others.

So dumb.. so stupid.

Jake sighs, fingers hooking under the wing of her bra and playing with the fine fabric there. His touch moved from there to (Y/n)’s back, tracing along her spine and occasionally massaging the bone there with his fingertips. It makes her want more. “You can stop hiding (Y/n), I’m not pissed..” She jitters at his words, hesitantly turning her head to look at him. 

He isn’t?

She doesn’t talk, but Jake continues as the hand massaging delightfully on her spine shifts to the lock on her wrist. “This comes off when I’m here with you, alright?”

Her breath hitches. She nods.

_-Snap-_

Cold air surrounds (Y/n)’s wrist, relieving the uncomfortable feeling of metal meeting skin. In shock, she turned onto her side to see her wrist. Light. Free. Jake’s voice broke through her blank mind. “Lay with me.”

“No.” Comes (Y/n)’s voice, quiet from not being used in a while. She avoids looking at Jake.

“You’re cold.” He counters, wrapping an arm around her belly and pulling her to him. 

The woman makes no effort to push him away, but she does go stiff. “I’ll be fine, it’s okay.”

“Sure.”

“I-“

“Don’t lie to me, (Y/n).” Jake sounded a bit annoyed. “You’ve missed me, I can tell.”

Okay, true. But it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, so nasty that it made her sit up. “I miss Claudette and Yui too..” She finally turns to look at Jake, (e/c) eyes boring into his. “I wanna see them, Jake. I need to know if they’re doing okay.”

He sat up along with her. “They’re fine, (Y/n). A little.. what’s the wor- absentminded, but fine.”

“Okay, but I still wanna see them!”

His half-lidded eyes narrowed. “No.”

What? She blinked, then shouts in a bout of desperation. “Why not? They’re my friends! You can’t keep me away from them!”

“Obviously I can, (Y/n). You’re here now aren’t you?”

“This i-is wrong!” The tears are starting to come.

“You don’t think I know that? I know damn well it’s wrong, but it isn’t gonna stop me from having you here.”

“Why don’t you care..?!” The tears fell and her body shook, but Jake remained uncaring of her outburst. “Where did- What ever happened to you?”

Jake blew soft air out of nose, wanting to be done with this. “Yeah..” He then loomed closer as she scooted back, replying sarcastically. “There’s something wrong with me. Gotta be the demons or something.” He shoved her down onto her back, forcing the air out of her lungs. (Y/n) barely had time to fade out of disorientation before Jake forced himself on top of her, pining down her wrists in a strong grip.

(Y/n) began to squirm, chest heaving with slight panic. “Jake?”

“You really shouldn’t have tried to leave, (Y/n).”

“Y-you said you wouldn’t hurt me..”

“And I’m not.” He leaned forward, planting a few pecks on the trembling woman’s forehead, her cheek, then the side of her neck. He nibbled and bit the tender spots there, feeling (Y/n)’s heartbeat quicken under his lips. “You missed me, yeah?” He continues in a sickeningly soothing voice.

“I miss the old you.” (Y/n) closes her eyes, trying to focus on anything but Jake. Trying. 

“The same goes for you.” He stopped kissing her neck to latch his lips onto hers now.

**_ Yearning _ **

Clad in only his boxers, Jake slowly eased his way forward to his flustered captive with lustful intentions, grabbing her knee for leverage when he knelt down. Currently lying down and covering her reddened face with both hands, (Y/n) felt her legs being spread apart by the pursuing man before her, revealing to him her soiled panties. 

“.. Are you sure you don’t want this?” Jake teased, rubbing a thumb on the cloth against her vulva, further dampening the fabric. 

“I hate you.” Came her muffled, breathless voice.

“Is that right?” Jake pulls the dirtied garment down her thighs, smiling inwardly as she willingly lifted up her legs to make it easier for him. “Do you want me to stop? We can stop, y’know.”

“No..”

“No?” His attention went back to her needy pussy, pulling her folds apart to get a long, good look at it. (Y/n) trembled at the odd feeling. 

“I-I wish you’d stop being so possessive.”

“Mmm. That’s your fault.” He didn’t really seem to be paying close attention to her words. This proved to be somewhat true when he pushed one of his fingers past her entrance, stretching her out for him. “You’re just too precious to let go.” He mocked. (Y/n)’s legs shook, back pushing off the floor in an effort to keep herself calm. She sighed, one filled with both sadness and pleasure. “D-don’t say that. Please, don’t ever say that.”

Jake inserted another finger, pushing against her walls that clamped down hard around him. 

“Does it make you happy?”

“Just don’t say it.”

“But it’s true, it doesn’t matter what you do.”

“I’ll eventually do something to make you hate me.”

“There’s really nothing you can do for that to happen, honestly.” 

“You used to be so sweet..”

“Sweet?” Jake held back a chuckle. “I was never sweet.”

“Compared to what you do now, Jake. Y-yes you were.”

“And you used to keep to yourself.”

The woman struggled to focus with Jake teasing a spot between her inner thighs. “People ch-change..”

“Yeah. Yeah they do, (Y/n). I still love you, though.”

“I-I hate-!” She suddenly covers her mouth with both hands, muffling a loud, keening whine that escaped past her lips. Jake thrusted his fingers inside of her now, gradually picking up the pace with each passing second.

“Lying to yourself like that. And you wonder why I’m possessive.” He stretched and caressed her walls with certain, touching every spot that made her body tense and her throat sing for him. He didn’t even need to try and explore what made her come anymore, it just came to him like second nature.

(Y/n) snapped her thighs together in protest, to which Jake reacted by moving his hand away, fingers covered with her love juices. 

“What?” He started, a little annoyed while contemplating licking his fingers. “You want me now?” 

“I just.. don’t want to come yet.”

“Is that a yes?”

She doesn’t answer yet. And so, Jake takes it upon himself to release his semi-hard member from his boxers. “Come here.” He orders, strangely a bit softer than usual. It was soft enough for (Y/n) to actually get up, look at him, then crawl to him with only some reluctance. As soon as she was close enough though, Jake reached over and hauled her up by her knees. The sudden action took (Y/n) by surprise, forcing her to balance herself by hugging Jake’s shoulders.

“Wait!”

Jake slowed, but didn’t stop once he settles her on his lap. The man unclipped her bra, snatching it off and tossing it aside without waiting for any reaction out of her. He then straddled (Y/n) until her legs rested over his arms and he held her. It was an odd position and it hurt, but it felt much more intimate than their other positions. It was like he wanted to hug her, less dirty and more clean. More of love than lust. It made (Y/n)’s heart leap as she relaxed her chin on the man’s shoulder. 

“See? You don’t even have to see my face.” Jake spoke, lowering (Y/n) onto his erection until his tip just grazed the entrance. He kept her there and rocked her slowly, teasing her needy folds amongst his member. “Not unless you want to.”

“A-am I not heavy?” The woman asked, burying her face into his shoulder now, masking her senses with his cozy inducing smell.

“You are, yeah.” Jake said monotonously as he pushed in, tip disappearing inside (Y/n).

She tensed and stopped breathing for a moment, feeling him shape her walls to fit his girth like a glove. “We can try another-“

“I’m not putting you down yet.” The words simply left no room for argument. Anything that (Y/n) wanted to retort with vanished the instant his dick completely entered her pussy. She bit on her bottom lip, keeping down the moans that bubbled in her throat. Her chest heaved, toes curled up as a result of both pleasure and little willpower. 

No more is said between the two. Jake thrusted up at the same time as he brought (Y/n) down on his lap. He didn’t slow down for anything, his pace quickened each time her cunt clamped around his cock, feeling her cling strongly onto him. He heard her quieted moans vibrate through his chest and shoulder, her fingernails digging painfully into his back. Jake groaned as he’d quickly gone from thrusting to pounding into (Y/n), uncaring of the jittering mess he made out of her. He heard her beg for more, beg of him to stop, keening _pleasepleaseplease_ like a helpless, broken record.

His rough pace made her squeeze precum out of his slit, cursing at himself for not telling her to relax beforehand. Oh well. It didn’t matter, he damn near wanted to cover her with his cum anyway.

No scratch that, he’s going to.

He snapped (Y/n) out of her stupor by changing their position, moving her onto her back and plunged back into her there, keeping her legs spread apart and folded. The man watched intently as the woman’s sex gripped his erection every time he pulled out. He relishes in the way she practically cried, in pain or in pleasure he didn’t know, but he couldn’t find himself to even care at the moment. Jake took a hold of (Y/n)’s waist in his hands and steadied his pounding there, trailing his thumb to her clit and rubbing it in small circles. 

It didn’t take very long, just how Jake needed it to be. Moments later, he felt (Y/n) shiver, wail, clutch him in vice grip, then release her cream all over his cock. With a low grunt the man came soon after, his warm cum partially filling her and mixing in with her fluids. He pulled out just in time for the rest of his cum to cover her stomach, feeling pleased in a way that he claimed her even further.

He didn’t move yet. He stayed sheathed inside of her, still going strong. (Y/n)’s half-lidded eyes clouded with desire, breathing indirectly telling Jake that she can keep going. 

Good. He pulled out and grabbed her wrists with both hands, pulling her up until she comes face-to-face with his member, slick with her come.

“Clean it.” He gave the confused woman little room to protest, scooping a palm under her head and guiding her forward. 

**_ Degrading  _ **

(Y/n) struggled to breathe. Especially with having Jake’s cock in her mouth and his scent envelop her senses. She tried to think of something else, anything. Anything would be better than focusing on him shoving his dick repeatedly down her throat, making her gag occasionally in humiliation. Her body and her heart constantly disagreed with her mind. The thought Jake served to quicken her heartbeat and leave her flustered, while her body becomes heated and her pussy dripped with his semen down her legs. 

This is wrong. All of it, it’s wrong. She shouldn’t love him. Like him. Hell, she should’ve never said a damn word to him in the first place. Things could’ve been different.

Did she want it to be different? (Y/n) couldn’t tell how she felt right now. All she knew is that she wanted and didn’t want Jake. But, the fact that she even wanted this despicable, mendacious, traitorous man meant that she’s no better than him. The way he used her was utterly demoralizing and she’s letting it happen. 

(Y/n) gave a brief hum and opened her eyes when Jake slowed his movements. Confused, but feeling ever so grateful and disappointed. 

“You don’t wanna bite me?” 

Bite you?

Fuck yes she wanted to bite him.

She can also hear the smugness in his voice. He knows well that she can’t speak at the moment. “Go on, (Y/n).” He moves his hands away, looking down on her with a dark expression that matched his tone. “Don’t wait. I know you wanna bite it off.” The smugness disappeared, just like that. Replaced with something that (Y/n) couldn’t decipher. Nonetheless, she didn’t comply. She didn’t want to bite him anymore, she didn’t want to cause pain nor give him the satisfaction. The woman closes her eyes and hummed again.

“Don’t want to now? What a surprise..”

She sighed through her nose at his sarcasm. Then, the pressure is relieved from her mouth when Jake removes himself. His cock stood in front of the woman’s face as he began to stroke himself, lubricated with her saliva. “You want a taste then?” 

(Y/n) opened her eyes again, stuttered once she saw what he’s doing. 

“Y-yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Huh?” She responded, dumbfounded. Impatient, Jake took some of her hair into a tight grasp and pulled back, his cum seeping tip pressing lightly against her bottom lip. (Y/n) whined, the action confusing her.

“Yes. What?”

“Oh.. Y-yes, please.”

“Open.” 

She complies as he releases her, opening her mouth for him and his throbbing hard-on. Jake hooked his thumb into her mouth and jaw, delicately running along her teeth until he touched her tongue. He pushed along the underside of it, pushing (Y/n) to stick her tongue out for him. He drew his hand away, keeping in the mind that she didn’t move her tongue back in once he moved his thumb away.

“Good girl.” Jake stroked himself harder, more firmly at the sight of (Y/n) before him. For maybe the second or third time in their relationship, he was flustered. At times her willingness to give herself to him truly wrecked his nerves and not because of him just “messing up”. What if she lost her life at his hands? What if she submitted to someone else like this? That’s why did this. That’s why he had to make sure she thought of no one else but him. Yes, he severely damaged her trust and feelings, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. He knows it and it’s not because of a stupid gut feeling no, Jake is smarter than that.

He shook slightly, brown eyes ogled once his cum landed all over (Y/n)’s face, her mouth, her tongue, even some of it dripped onto her breasts. The palm that was resting on her cheek trailed down to caress her breast and knead the fat there, the other pulling a dazed (Y/n) up to him for a passionate kiss. He disregarded the taste of her and himself on her lips, only desiring a kiss from the woman. From the way she nipped and tussled around with his tongue, Jake could tell she wasn’t done just yet.

His assumption is soon confirmed when (Y/n) ends the kiss, gaze lingering within his for a second, then she ushers him to lie down onto his back. Jake’s dark brown eyes shone with interest. He did what she wanted while pulling her on top of him, enjoying the sight from below. 

“You know how to do this?” Jake asked, holding her waist for both his leverage and to balance her.

“No it’s-.. I’ve never done this before.” She admits with some shame, eyes refusing to meet his now.

“It’s all good. Rise up.” He gently smacks his palm against her ass, emphasizing what exactly he wanted her move.

(Y/n) obeys. With hands on Jake’s chest, she lifted up her hips just enough for her sex to align with his. The man grabs her bottom with both hands now and pulls them apart along with her folds, soon lowering the woman onto his lap. He held her there. Evening his breathing as (Y/n) tried to do the same. The both of them are manipulated by the lust, hate, and love they felt for one another. In any other life (Y/n) would’ve dropped Jake for the things he’s done. In any other life Jake would’ve avoided (Y/n), much like he avoided other people and deterred them.

One could say it’s because they’re stuck in a realm where there’s only misery, pain and little time for love, yet they’ve managed. They’ve caused pain to one another and still managed, so it couldn’t be that. As (Y/n) rose and lets her hips fall onto Jake while he guided her, it felt like she was made just for him. She never had sex with someone else, but in the back of her mind she knew that it wouldn’t be as passionate as this. Sure, she couldn’t really say that since she’s never tried, but she _knew_. The way her body and her mind reacted to Jake felt both natural and unnatural, it was mysterious and it left her with no explanation on how to properly describe it. 

She gulped down a lump in her throat. It wasn’t fair. 

Nothing about this is fair, yet at the same, it was. She wanted to hate him, she wanted to hate Jake so bad. She wanted to be burnt out of her feelings and toss him away, just like he carelessly tossed away her trust, but at the same fucking time she needed to be with him. If he suddenly disappeared one day, her heart wouldn’t be able to take it, the grief. The thought of it even made her heart wrench.

(Y/n) whined in between her soft moans. Tears quickly formed in the corners of her closed eyes and fell onto Jake’s chest. 

Jake stopped. (Y/n) feels a shift under her and a palm on one side of her cheek, stopping the tears from falling down any further. “Hey hey, it’s okay, I’m here.” He coos. He doesn’t ask what’s wrong, the man knows what’s wrong, but he made the effort to make her feel better anyway. “Need me to stop?”

She opens her eyes to look at him and shake her head. No. She needed him right now, something to channel her emotions through. With a broken smile, she gently pushes him down again. They return to their position, glad that her crying didn’t kill the mood entirely. (Y/n) held her breath at some points and bounced herself off of Jake’s lap, sobbing molding into gasping and moaning. She balanced herself with her hands on his chest, breasts bouncing with each of her movements. 

Jake followed suit, grabbing at her waist and digging his blunt nails into her, steadying (Y/n) every time she pounced up above him, his tip lingering inside of her pussy before she dove back down. The woodsman pulls her into him, allowing her smother him with her bosom pressed against his chest. Facing her now he kissed her deeply, unfocused and a bit sloppy. He didn’t care. He could see her cry any other time, but not now. Not when he wanted to pleasure her. Their hugging and their sex edged them on, replacing the quiet tent with their voices and wet skin slapping against skin. 

Jake’s groan vibrated into the kiss. He was close.

He stopped, bamboozling the poor (Y/n) above him. Pulling out of her pulsating hole with an audible squelch, he sat up and flipped her onto her hands and knees, never minding the struggle she had with him forcing her. With (Y/n)’s ass in the air, Jake gripped her waist and shoved himself back in, wasting no time slamming himself into her aching, dripping cunt. Her keening made his cock throb as her walls began to milk him. 

Jake leaned forward, warm breath flickering across (Y/n)’s cheek and soon teeth nibbling on her ear. “C’mere.” He said soft and huskily, using one hand to turn her face to his, continuing their little make-out session earlier. So close. He kept pounding into her creamy pussy and inevitably got lost in the pleasure. His body melted into his soul, as did (Y/n)’s. The two of them shook. Connected. Then released. (Y/n) sobbed as she was the first to come, immediately hit by the pain of overstimulation of Jake thrusting to reach his own orgasm. 

His seed poured into her in small pools of cum, the fluid oozing out of her hole and rolling along her thigh. After a while of the couple basking in the high, he pulled out. It was a mess, a dripping mess of her come mixing in with his once again. Parts of her body are covered in sweat, either dry or wet cum, and some other fluids Jake recognizes as saliva or tears. The man didn’t judge. He’s almost covered in the very same things after all.

(Y/n) quivered. Going so long without a break caused her eyelids to feel heavy. Blood rushed back to her legs as well as the eagerness of wanting to get comfortable with the blankets. She moved to do just that, clean herself first, then go lay down. However, her movements are put to a stop due to Jake’s hand squeezing her thigh. (Y/n) whined.

“Jake, please..”

“(Y/n), It’s not-“

“I-I can’t take it anymore, pl-“

“Lemme help clean us up.”

Oh.

Oh, okay.

“Sorry.” (Y/n) looked sheepish when Jake took her healthy hand in his. He shook his head, running his fingers along her knuckles. He then says ever so casually,

“C’mon. I got a shirt you can wear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took a hot minute. Holidays and all.
> 
> Thank you for reading. And for your patience.


	18. Desperation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both wanted and unwanted surprises come.

**_ Deprived _ **

The realm is _almost_ dead. And (Y/n) felt as dead as it was.

Beginning with the dull maroon sky, it was grey with some dark, blue undertones. It was as if the sky is covered by a plethora of heavy clouds and it was going to release a torrent of rain and thunder at any moment. The wind even gave off strong gales that blew through the naked branches of the dying trees. It sounded like it was whining, groaning in melancholy. 

The dead leaves on the ground crumbled into bits and pieces, some of it digging into the soil and blending into the fragile, yellowish-brown grass. In short: any sort of life the realm was clinging onto is gone.

In shorter: The Entity is dying.

How?

(Y/n)’s only clue is what was happening beneath her feet. It reminded her of when the ground began to glow and collapse after someone had opened the exit gates. Instead of it glowing orange though, deep blue hues shimmered through the dirt and grass. It didn’t release pollen-like particles, it isn’t unstable enough to release whatever power it contained. Yet.

(Y/n) forces herself to look away from the ground. She needed to complete a task soon and the last thing she wanted to do is annoy Jake right now. She figured that if getting on his good side and possibly seeing her friends meant that she had to “behave”, then behave she will. Sure it will cost whatever pride and dignity she held onto, but honestly? It felt like she threw that all away the first time she forgave him. 

She should fight back. She needed to fight back, but how? To state the obvious, Jake was simply stronger and had a weapon. And the fog. Although he said he wouldn’t hurt her, (Y/n) now doubted every single word of that statement. Something told her that if he was pushed far enough, he’d crack. 

And not under pressure.

It’s enough that he held her captive, but who knows what ideas would come to his mind, should she anger him enough. Even now as she’s alone and looking around for cankers, she could run away into hiding and he would find her. 

Well, actually, she doesn’t know that. But should she test it?

... Maybe. 

(Y/n) shook her head. Jake’s getting into her mind and making her doubt herself. Yeah, that’s what this is. (Y/n) turned around, facing the direction she came from. She should run now, find the campsite, shriek like a banshee at them for help and Jake will be held accountable for his sick actions. It’s as simple as that! Finding the campfire shouldn’t be hard so- 

“So you’re gonna just stand there and look pretty, huh?”

Fuck.. Just when she had the perfect plan in mind.

“I’m lost.” She mumbled, refusing to turn and look at Jake until he was in front of her. He isn’t dressed in his uniform, instead he’s wearing an orange windbreaker jacket, brown work-slacks, and dark-brown shoes. He wore orange and grey gloves to protect his skin, the only thing missing from his attire was his favorite scarf.

She hears him sigh. “You forgot where to look.” 

_No_.

”Y-yeah.”

“We don’t have all the time in the world to do this, (Y/n).”

Her brows furrowed. Yeah, they kind of do have all the time.

“C’mon, follow me.” Jake waves his hand.

She follows, shuffling behind him with a solemn expression. “I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t respond, instead he leads her deeper into the forest, eventually coming to a stop near a canker beating like a heart with life. It dripped blight onto the ground and squealed so disgustingly, it made (Y/n) nauseous. She focused on her breathing, trying to ease the prickling numbness in her mouth. The sickening, putrid smell of the flower did not help her case at all, but she somehow managed to pay little mind to it. 

Having a syringe in hand, the woman leans down and inserts the needle in the middle of the flower, allowing the serum to flow inside. She watches as the gruesome plant began to squeal loudly, shrink into itself, then droop while it’s large petals fell rotten onto the ground. A stream of the blue substance transfers from the stem to ground, increasing the faults glowing pigmentation. 

“There’s another one over here.” She hears Jake’s distant voice say. She gets up and follows the voice, finding herself and Jake next to another canker with multiple flowers this time. (Y/n) rose an eyebrow at the weird plant.

“Don’t worry, we have more than enough.” The saboteur explained, patting a spot next to him for (Y/n) to sit, stopping once she moved to do so. “After this, we’ll try to get some of the Killers on our side.”

(Y/n) almost dropped her syringe. “Wha- how will you do that?”

He began infecting the flower with the serum. “Remember those things you’ve found? The apple, the picture and all that?”

She nods.

“It looks like we can use some of them to calm those monsters down.”

(Y/n) moves her gaze away from Jake. “.. We?”

“We? Uhh yes, we- oh.” She heard a light, quiet chuckle. “The Entity still hasn’t thrown you into a trial? Good.”

“It’s not funny. A-and it isn’t good either!”

There was a short pause. “It is good. It means I don’t get to see you kill yourself again.” Jake with such, potent venom laced in his tone that (Y/n) shivered. This again? Well.. If there’s one thing (Y/n) regrets putting him through was.. that. Jake had a good streak going on: He didn’t kill anyone, he and Claudette were friends again, and he understood (Y/n)’s feelings a lot better than before. However, witnessing your loved one kill themselves right in front of you, (Y/n) imagined.. no, she knows that’ll mess up anyone. Despite having an utterly beleaguered relationship with an obsessive Jake, she understood where his tendencies is coming from this time.

“I’m sorry, Jake..”

“You gonna help me with this or not?” He responded. (Y/n) didn’t know if it was a question or a demand, but decided that it was safe to assume the latter. Oh well. She faces him again and eases towards him.

“Jake-“ She stops once he looks at her. The first thing (Y/n) notices is the blue reflecting in his dark irises, allowing her to see half of the pupil in his eyes. The second thing is his expression: annoyed and stoic as usual, but his glare tells her to do what he says or face the consequences.

What’s gotten into him lately?

“I mean it, Jake.” She persists.

The man’s dark eyes narrowed, then softened with an unexplained loom of sorrow. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I know I’m not making it very easy on ya, but don’t do it.”

She nodded, heart feeling a tad bit lighter.

“C’mon, help me with this.”

And once again, she does. (Y/n) gets lost in the process of killing the flowers, stopping once to refill the syringe before returning to her work. It becomes easier when they go from one canker to the next, so simple that (Y/n) does it absentmindedly. Who knew the Entity would go down so easily? Looking at the state of the realm, (Y/n) figures that it was going to fall apart at any moment. It was like living in a dreadful winter that never snowed; dead leaves, dead bushes, and dying trees with a haunting ghost face among them.

... Wait.

(Y/n) releases the syringe from the flower and did a double-take. Sure enough, there’s a man crouching behind a rather large tree and staring at her with a mask she recognized immediately. The woman felt her body drain of blood and her heartbeat quicken. Danny made it back, presumably safe and sound judging by the way he playfully lifted his hand and waved with his fingers. (Y/n) wanted to get up and call out to him, but her body froze with shock and her throat felt constricted by an unknown force. She also had to worry about Jake. She couldn’t do most of the things she wanted around him, and she highly, _highly_ doubts that he’ll let her wander the forest all on her own.

Unless..

“J-Jake?” Her voice shook, eyes never leaving Danny.

The woodsman stopped what he was doing, glancing at (Y/n) over his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” He asked, obviously noticing her form.

Picking up on his tone, she turns to face him and tries to relax. 

Okay. Here goes nothing.

“Do you.. wouldn’t it be faster if we spilt u-“

“No.”

She forces down a sigh. Of course he’ll shoot that down, that’s to be expected. Still, (Y/n) kept going. “Please, Jake? I know it’s hard to trust me but-“

“It is.”

“.. But, I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this.” (Y/n) feigned a stressed out, saddened tone. It wasn’t dull nor dramatic, just enough to have Jake concerned. 

“What’s the matter? You okay?”

She shook her head. “The flowers are making me feel sick. I-I know it sounds lazy, but the smell..” It’s partially true. The pustulas gave off a retching odor, but (Y/n) could handle it. 

Jake didn’t have to know that, though.

He seemed troubled. He didn’t look at her nor did he speak yet, (Y/n) could practically see the gears turning in his head. His eyebrows furrowed so much that faint wrinkles appeared on his forehead, indicting some form of stress.

“I’m taking you back to our tent.” Damn.. this could go one way or another: He’d chain her to a pole or out of pity, he wouldn’t. 

(Y/n) nodded quickly with a grateful smile. “Thank you..!” Please let it be pity, please let it pity. 

Jake offered his palm. Once she took it he moved (Y/n) away from the small crowd of flowers, leading her towards their humble abode. He didn’t seem mad thankfully, in fact Jake looked comfortable. The man really hated when she wasn’t in their safe space, (Y/n) guessed. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised due to his behavior. 

Arriving at the tent, he opened it for her and let her walk in. (Y/n) turns to look him in the eyes, smiling apologetically and still holding his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything yet, instead he steps forward and plants a kiss on her cheek. “It’s alright. Go lay down, I’ll be back soon okay?” 

“Don’t take too long..” She pleaded, happy receive yet another smooch.

It’s working.

“I won’t. Now, would you let me go?” His tone held amusement as he shook his hand lightly. (Y/n) squeezes his hand before releasing him, waving at him before he closes the tent shut. She takes a few steps back, hearing Jake’s footsteps crush the leaves under his boots, the steps becoming more and more distant with each one. He didn’t tie her up. Thank whatever angels who watched over them that it was indeed, pity.

Okay.. it’s time to wait.

**_ A Ghostly Reunion  _ **

Her heart hammered painfully in her chest. This was wrong and it was right. She should be thinking about Danny, but all that comes to mind is Jake. She felt extremely guilty wandering through the forest, though she shouldn’t be. He’s the one keeping her captive. It’s his fault that he didn’t tie her up.

Well, she’s definitely getting chained up after this.

No no, (Y/n) couldn’t let the thought of him impede her search. Although she could run into Jake at literally anytime in this forest, she didn’t let the threat stop her. After so long of pushing him away, then being obedient and letting him do as he pleases, she didn’t allow herself to feel threatened. He isn’t here, he couldn’t see her, hear her, what have you. And as long as he isn’t able to do that, she is safe. She is safe up until he catches her.

Okay, okay.. Where is he? Where is Danny Johnson? Why does (Y/n) always end up needing to find this man? She wasn’t hallucinating that, the moment when he leaned from behind a tree and waved at her. No, she didn’t feel that desperate. Desperate enough to betray whatever trust Jake had with her and pursue her only attempt at escape.

And exposing him.

It’s time to stop being nice. He was beyond saving at this point. Nevermind the fact that he’s helping everyone escape this place, he’s still holding (Y/n) hostage. She couldn’t sit back and just let him do it. With a new rise of confidence, she kept looking. Where? Anywhere. It’s her perk to find something out of nothing anyways. She lingered within the dark shadows of nature, keeping her form out of sight. She would find Danny and he would find her, that’s how this is gonna go. 

But, if she ends up stumbling into the campfire.. honestly, that would be much better. She gets to see more people; Yui, Claudette, Min, and more. More importantly, she’ll be safe from Jake. She would reunite with her friends, they would escape and then-

Then.. what? What will happen after they leave this realm? Not just the campers, but the Killers as well. Will they even remember what happened? (Y/n) kind of hopes they will, but at the same she’d love to forget this nightmare. Not her friends, just the hell that they all went through. 

But then, the events that sparked their relationship wouldn’t matter. It’ll be based off of deja vu and (Y/n) didn’t know if that’s wrong or right. What would be of her relationship with Jake? If they forget everything that happened here and just be drawn by deja vu, would be they even be together? Perhaps he won’t be as possessive as he is now. Maybe it’ll be their chance to start over, if they managed to meet in the real world. (Y/n) knew that he lived in a forest, she also told him where she lives. However, if they forgot everything here that wouldn’t matter anymore. 

The thought makes her feel guilty again. She couldn’t save Jake, reason with him, or anything. It’s like she didn’t understand him as much as she should, especially given his change of behavior. Maybe it was just the work of the Entity? It did have the power to strongly influence anybody, especially if it finds a weak spot. So there comes another question, what is Jake’s weak point? His family? (Y/n)? Something that he’s dealing with internally and alone? 

(Y/n) always convinced herself that he’s a good person. Just.. not right in the head. No no, she’s still not going to be nice, but if she can find out where Jake lost himself, she will. She’ll use that knowledge to save him, make him come to his senses as others did for her. If she can do that before they leave this realm and if they forget the events that happened here, then at least she’d done something for Jake.

_-crunch-_

_-squish-_

There was a noise, right behind her. (Y/n) didn’t know how long someone had been following her, but she knew it isn’t Jake. With a peace of mind she turned around. Staring into the droopy, empty holes of a white mask.

Yep. It was that easy.

“Boo.” The man wiggled his knife and his hand, setting the weapon back in it’s sheath. “Awe, it’s my fan gi-“

“Danny!” She didn’t give him time to finish his teasing. (Y/n) instinctively moved to hug him, but felt air once Danny moved aside, much to her dismay.

“Whoa now! Easy, easy. I ain’t gonna let you jump on me like that and give me a concussion.”

“Sorry..” She apologized sheepishly. “It’s just, I didn’t know if you made it back or not.”

The man shrugged. “I told you I’ll make it back. I just got here like, five minutes ago as a matter of fact.”

(Y/n) blinked. “Five minutes ago!?”

“Yeah I wanted to do.. something.”

“Do wha-!“

“I’m not telling you. Okay? That’s that.”

(Y/n) breathes a tired sigh. “.. I was worried about you.”

Danny scoffed, removing his mask to show his scarred, but grinning face. “I’d say don’t worry about me, but that’ll be way out of character. Let’s see uhh- worry about me, but in a scared way. Got that?”

“Danny, I’m serious!”

“I am too.” He stepped forward, looking down at a troubled (Y/n). “Never let your guard down around me, I don’t exactly like that.”

“But you’re-“ 

“You can hug me (Y/n), once.” The world around her paused. Whatever she was going to say got caught up in her throat and long forgotten when those words slipped past Danny’s lips. Her body moved on it’s own. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, hands squeezing the fabric of his hooded cloak. (Y/n) drew a shaky sigh. It’s been too long since she embraced this kind of warmth, since she hugged someone and it came from the heart. Her body began to tremble, tenfold once Danny returned the hug, his mask resting on the small of her back. She could tell that he isn’t used to holding anyone like this, but it didn’t matter. The fact that he did it is what counts.

“Are you crying over me?” Came his deep, soothing voice.

(Y/n) made no attempt to lie. “Yes..”

“I have a nagging feeling that something happened.”

She held him tighter than before. Here it goes, again. “Danny, I-I need your help.”

“Ah there it is.” He gripped her jaw and moved her face so she can look at him. “Alright alright, who did it?”

Her heartbeat quickens. “Jake.”

“Jake? You mean.. you mean your little boyfriend?”

She nods, fighting back tears now.

“Never thought of him as the abusive ty-“

“He didn’t hit me!” She quickly corrects him. Why? She doesn’t know. “He never hits me but, lately he’s been keeping me away from the others.”

“Aaand, you couldn’t leave why?”

“He kept me in our tent with a chain. I.. couldn’t go anywhere until today.”

“Ohh, so you’re like his pet.”

“Danny..”

He rubs her back with a snicker. “Fine fine. Ugh.. Uhh..” He tilts his head endearingly, thinking oh so dramatically. “I’m gonna need you to stay close. We’re gonna go find the camp.” With that, he releases his hold on her. Albeit with some reluctance. The man turns around and began walking with the woman close behind him.

**_ Power _ **

This is it, she told someone. It wasn’t the whole camp, but someone knew of Jake. The more the merrier. She squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again, holding back more tears. This was step closer to hopefully save herself, her friends, and more importantly: Jake Park. 

Leaving the tent was easily her best decision. Aside from all the doubts and phantom threats hovering over her head, she can peacefully walk along the forest with the help of her friend, Danny. “Thank you..” She mumbled.

“What?” The man was twirling his knife again, evidently bored. 

“Thank you, Danny.”

He hummed. “You owe me some blood. I haven’t killed anyone in fucking ages.”

“Oh.. After this, you can-“

“I’m kidding! Damn.. Is it really that bad?”

“Y-yes.” 

“Well I’ll be. Some people are messy.” (Y/n) found it quite ironic for Danny to say that, but that doesn’t make his statement false. People are messy, including herself. You just got people like Danny who accepts that about himself, happily so, it seems.

“Have you ever thought about a life without murder?”

The knife in his hand stops twirling. “Yeah.”

“Really..?”

“There’s a lot of ways to get famous, you know. Mostly by entertainment but, most people in that.. ugh, field are often stupid. Not to say that the smart ones go unnoticed.”

(Y/n) shifts her gaze to the ground, trailing along the blue faults. “So why did you choose to do crime?”

“Because I like it.”

“.. And?”

“No, there is no and. I like it and I just so happen to be so damn good at it. I don’t need anything else, but the whole world terrified of me.” His voice becomes lighter. (Y/n) makes a mental note that he really enjoys talking about himself. Oh well, if it keeps him happy and away from the confines of boredom. With a smile, she continues the survey for him. 

“You really are dark.”

“Hah! Want me to wear brighter clothing?” Up ahead there’s an orange light illuminating in a fading dome around the forest. It fills (Y/n) up with hope.

“It’d be different. Maybe something um, white?”

“You’re not funny.”

She laughed playfully. “So you can actually look like a ghost?”

“Oh ha ha, (Y/n).”

“What do you suggest then, Danny?”

“Nothing that you’re thinking of! I’m wearing all black and that’s-“ His sentence was suddenly cut off by a gasp, (Y/n)’s gasp that sounded so breathless he immediately turned around.

His eyes widened, for the first time he was surprised. (Y/n)’s bloodied hands covered her bleeding stomach, failing to stop the blood flowing out of her body. There was no way she could. Not with her perpetrator behind her, keeping her still with a knife embedded deeply into her stomach. 

Jake’s glare fixated on Danny, eyes blue with matching particles around him. There were swirls and tiny billows of blackened smoke surrounding him and (Y/n). The woman tried to scream, but she struggled to even breathe with gasps for air, her lips dripped with her blood as her sight faded out of focus. 

Danny quickly drew his weapon, watching with an unreadable look as Jake yanked the knife out of (Y/n) who wailed in pain, still holding her with his other arm.

“Look at you.” Danny gave him a smirk. “The Entity made you like this?”

Jake shook his head. “The Entity is weak.”

“It’s looks like you’re under it’s influence.. what’s your name? Jake?”

“No. It’s under mine.” He looks down at (Y/n), seeing that she’s struggling to keep her eyelids open, due to bleeding out.

Danny felt his heart drop to his stomach, how the hell did he not notice Jake preying on them? “Put her down.”

“Fuck off.”

“Too scared to go toe-to-toe with me, Jake?”

“I don’t have to waste my time on you.” He hoisted (Y/n) up and over his shoulder, walking away and disregarding Danny with a dismissive attitude. “Go back to the camp.”

The Ghostface irked. With immediate realization, he knows he’s gone soft. Going so long without murdering anyone took a toll on him. He didn’t know how out of practice he was, most of his victims were helpless, but there was a few that would put up a good fight. This is no different. None. Danny quickly saw an opening. The man gripped his knife, dropped his mask, then focused on the weak point.

Then, he charged with uncharacteristic intentions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, oof.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	19. To be Loved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most answers are revealed. Some are better left a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Graphic, Violence, etc, etc in here.
> 
> Long Chapter.
> 
> Epilogue next chapter.

**_ Swelling  _ **

He cracked a grin.

Oh yeah, he’s gone _soft_. Danny couldn’t even stand up at the moment, but he can smirk through it all. His knife laid on the floor, chips shattered from it and pieces of it glimmering under any light it caught within it’s grasp, covered with smears of blood. Opposite of the broken weapon lies (Y/n), whimpering quietly and curled up in a fetal position, still alive thankfully and holding in her wound. In front of the man stood Jake staring down at him. Unlike Danny, he isn’t smiling. His expression is cold and he can see that the saboteur wanted to kill him on the spot. Jake held two knives in both of his hands, one of which confused Danny when the taller man literally shaped the weapon out of the fog. Meh, they were caked with his blood anyway and right now, he had to worry about making sure he and (Y/n) got out of this situation alive.

He breathed heavily, cloak soaking in more blood that dripped from his wounds and bled smoothly into the fabric. One of his eyes are severely lacerated, impairing his vision partially. The rest of his form is littered with injuries from the knives ripping through his clothes and tearing into his flesh, the most prominent injury being on his knee.It’s the sole reason why he couldn’t stand up properly.

Well this flopped, he thought. His honey eye left Jake to focus on (Y/n). His heart ached along with her silent cries, ached with what, he didn’t know. Something told him that he shouldn’t have been so careless, that even though she can come back, her death will still be his fault. Something told him that he absolutely can not let Jake overpower him, that it would be wrong for Danny to give up. These feelings confused him. He’s had a bitter taste of failure once, multiple times actually, but there was no one the face those consequences except himself. He relied on no one, but himself. The man sighed, briefly choking on his own blood and initiating a small, but painful coughing fit. For the first time, he honestly felt-

“You’re pathetic.” Jake gripped the handle of his knives tightly.

“No shit.” Danny retorts, smirking up at Jake again. “I’m sitting here coughing up blood and leaning on one knee like I’m gonna propose to you.” He chuckled at his own joke, voice strained and raspy. “But sure, I’m just fine.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. He took a single step forward. “Where were you taking her?”

“Camp.” He paused for a second, seeing (Y/n) beginning to crawl from the corner of his good eye. “Where the fuck else?”

“She _isn’t_ supposed to go back there.”

“Well uh, think about this. It’s a little crazy, alright?” He sarcastically cleared his throat and fixed his clothes. “Maybe, just maybe if you were one of those good guys, she wouldn’t have felt the need to sneak a-!” Danny grit his teeth, mouth filling with a metallic substance. He didn’t even see Jake move; the man swung the knife on one side of Danny’s lip, splitting his mouth open. On instinct he held the gash, immediately losing balance on his foot and stumbling on his back. The pain spiked through one, entire side of Danny’s face, rendering him unable to speak until it subsided.

Jake casually withdrew his weapon. “Don’t tell me something that I already know.” With that he paid no more attention to Danny, his interest settling on (Y/n) now. Tenacious as ever, she was crawling towards the broken knife with an outstretched arm, hoping to grasp the handle in time before anyone noticed. Unamused, Jake made his way to (Y/n) and kicked the knife somewhere into the forest, out of her reach. The woman couldn’t help but whine, fear enveloping her form as Jake leaned down, pressing a firm hand on her back and caressing her spine.

“What’s it gonna be? Your arms or your legs?” He coos.

Huh?

She gave him nothing short of a confused gaze. “W-what do you mean?”

“One has to go, (Y/n). Pick.” He moved her onto her back, brushing hair out of her face and resting his palm on her cheek. Her mind couldn’t fathom what he meant. One has to go? What did he-

Ohh.

“Jake, please..” She’s met with a dreadful, horrible realization that he possibly meant that he’ll amputate her limbs. “You said you wouldn’t-“ Ah. Hurt her? (Y/n) stopped herself, those words meant nothing now.

“If you don’t choose, I’ll cut them all off.”

“I-I’m sorry!” She panicked now, squirming under him with weak attempts to crawl away. “I won’t run away again, I promise..!” 

“Oh, sure.” The words that came next are rue and spiteful. “So both your arms and legs then.”

“No! My- my..” The woman stopped to think, chest heaving with frantic breaths.

Jake tapped the tips of his fingers against her cheek in a rhythm. “Your what?” 

(Y/n) held her breath now, resuming the soft sobs that shook her body. “M-my legs.”

Jake hummed, trailing his palm down her neck, over her breasts, then halting to squeeze her thigh and rub tiny little circles there. Then begins the bitter-sweet talking, like many times before. “Stop crying, (Y/n). It won’t hurt, okay?”

Danny coughed, cringing in pain at his wounds and at Jake’s words. His chest began to ache and it was making him with livid. “Leave her alone.”

“Shut up and go lay back down.” Jake talked Danny as if he was a child, but his eyes never left (Y/n). Though a bit expressionless, there was a crazed glint amongst his colored irises. 

“I’ll-“ The Ghostface hissed in pain, clutching his knee and trying to stand up on one leg. “I’ll make you fucking regret it, you-”

“One more word and you won’t have a goddamn tongue anymore.”

Danny scoffed. “I’ll just come back and fight you again.” His cocky, toothy grin grew wider. “Get over here and cut it off!”

Jake suddenly stood up on demand. If Danny wasn’t in such a bad position, he’ll be excited for this little tussle. But no. Oh no, he was worried. Above all though, he only hoped to buy some time for (Y/n) to get away, if she was healthy enough to move. He was flipping a coin here and could only pray that it landed on his side. Jake turned to face Danny with the second hunting knife materializing in his hand. 

“You won’t come back.”

The Ghostface snorts. “Bullshit.”

Jake slowly shakes his head, taking one step. “See the ground? You saw how different it looks.”

Danny hardly listened, he was looking for a way to ambush while Jake chatted away. “Aand? What exactly does it have to do with anything?”

“The janky blue lines means the Entity will die in some days. If we leave this place early, we go back home.” 

What?

Now _that_ caught his attention. If Danny goes back to Earth, he can continue his ambitions of becoming infamous. The Infamous Ghostface. The man shivered with glee! A smile shone on his face, disregarding the mouth injury. In fact in only worked to make his smile more.. charming. He wanted this. He wanted this oh so bad.

But.

While it is indeed very tempting to just let Jake kill him, tear him apart piece by piece or what have you, there is someone he might care more about than himself.

...

The injured man braces himself now as the saboteur stepped towards him again. 

“Whatever. Just shush up and fight me.”

Jake looked like he wanted to chuckle. “You wanna go back now, do you?” 

He wanted to bite back, but Danny isn’t the one to lie. Instead, he doesn’t answer and that seems to work just fine for Jake. This is it. Going so long without the Entity’s divine power, Danny was weak right now, but he couldn’t run. He would never run. He hoped that whatever comes next would be worth it in the long term. He didn’t know how to protect anyone, but he knew how the draw attention to himself better than most. If getting his tongue sliced off meant that (Y/n) had time to get away, then it is what it is. He’d rather choke on his blood and die, than submit to the man in front of him.

Danny stood up as Jake approached with a clear intentions to maim and kill him. With no weapon, his only means of defense are his hands. Funny. Back when he used to rouse the Entity he would sacrifice or kill Jake over and over again, and the survivor could only defend himself with a breakable wooden pallet. Danny remembered getting annoyed because the woodsman never shouted or screamed, Jake received harsher treatment than most campers because of this. 

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, it made this moment feel more like revenge.

Despite his knee, Danny pounced anyway as Jake did the same. Revenge or not, he couldn’t just sit here and let him have his way. With a clenched, shaking fist he quickly brought it upon Jake’s jawline, which only seemed to collide with him like a pillow. The feeble impact made the saboteur lower his knives, resisting a cheeky grin that threatened to show. Once Danny made another effort to punch his jaw, he got the air knocked out of him when Jake slammed a heavy boot to his torso, forcing him to stumble on the ground again. He didn’t have time to register what happened until he realized he couldn’t breathe, especially with Jake stepping on his throat. Paralyzed, Danny made no move to resist, not when Jake pried his mouth open with one hand, not when he rose the blade above his head.

“S-stop..” (Y/n)’s hoarse voice overshadowed the noises of their struggle.

But Jake didn’t listen. Once he had a good grip on his victim he dove the knife past his lips, ripping the insides of his of mouth apart and beginning to saw his tongue off. Pain flared Danny’s head, so much that he resisted with little to no avail. He expected it to hurt like hell, but damn it was still unbearable. It’s fine, he told himself. It’s fi-

“STOP!!” (Y/n) began to scream, disturbing cawing crows in the distance and interrupting Jake’s assault on Danny as well. The man couldn’t or understand what was happening, but a weight lifted off of him the moment (Y/n) stopped screaming. He heard sounds of metal fall to the ground and her shrieks turned to high-pitched growls mixed in with sobs, along with the voice of Jake’s quiet grunts and coughing for a brief moment.

What happened? Danny didn’t know, but he hoped whatever happened, the end result will turn out well for (Y/n). He couldn’t breathe as he’s suffocating from his own blood, his vision fading in and out followed by a soft ringing in his ears. The only thing he can hear now is his heartbeat, steadying and slowing down. If he could laugh, he would. Yeah he’s been sent to the Void, but he never actually died in this realm. With Jake’s words in mind, Danny wondered if he’ll stay dead or come right back, just like the survivors. Or better, he’ll actually wake up back home with his TV blaring about recent murders, a desk covered in newspapers and a camera, and his costume lazily draped over his plush seat. 

A true mortal once again.

**_ Igniting a Flame _ **

(Y/n) clings onto Jake like a lifeline, ripping Danny’s chipped knife out of his back, then stabbing him again and again. Jake clenched his jaw to mediate the pain, trying to pry (Y/n) off of his back. The woman; angered, saddened, and broken, only continued to yank the blade out of his back and stab him with hot, blinding rage. Her words are incoherent, censored by strong emotions that she isn’t able to handle. With a grunt, Jake finally threw her off of him, doubling over when the shock subsides and the burden of his injuries took over. “(Y/n)..”

“You killed him!!” (Y/n) screamed, giving Jake no more time to recover as she stood up and ran at it with the knife in both hands. The man however, turned and managed to grasp her forearms in time.

“Why the fuck do you care?” For maybe the second time, Jake is losing his cool. His eyes are filled with anger, teeth clenched in a struggle to keep (Y/n) still. 

“I-I loved you! I loved you and all you ever did was hurt me!” She bit his arm, causing Jake to flinch and lose a steady on (Y/n). 

“All I’ve ever done was try to protect you, you ungrateful _bitch_.” He growled deeply and viciously.

“All you _ever_ did was hurt me and my friends! I HATE you!!” She repeated the same three words over and over again, frantically trying hard to maim him. Instead she was shoved away, but that didn’t stop her for a second. Once she gained even a fraction of momentum, she ran yelling with the blade at Jake again. 

The man acted fast. 

He shaped the usual weapon in his hand and harshly collided it with hers, effectively forcing it out of her hands. Before (Y/n) could recover her hair was yanked backwards with a sharp tug. Jake forced her to look up at him, seeing her seething back at him. She struggled against his hold, ignoring the pain.

“L-let me go!” She yelped as he pushed her down onto her knees, face against the dirt with Danny’s weapon mere inches away. Just as she tried to reach for it however, she felt searing pain in her back. (Y/n) could only scream as Jake drove a sharp metal into her back a few times, pointedly ignoring her spine.

She can do it. 

(Y/n) pushes herself against the metal, feeling it cut cleanly through her flesh and her back pooling with warm blood. 

“Yeah, keep moving and you’ll die here. You’ll never see your fucking friends again.”

Jake’s cold words worked it’s magic to falter her movements, but she kept going. He seemed distracted, too roped into trying to reason with her. It’s one of his tricks, (Y/n) thought with shame, having fell for them multiple times. He’s implying that he’ll let her see her friends, should she comply. 

But it’s a lie, it’s always a damn lie because it benefited him. Once she took ahold of the handle and pulled it to her chest, she was suddenly dragged back to Jake by her leg. She whined loudly, her stomach wound from before aching due to neglect and mistreatment. 

“That’s what you want? Fine with me.” He grumbled, leaning further down and turning (Y/n) over. The first thing she sees is his crazed expression, unsmiling, but eyes a little wide with either anger or insanity. They glowed blue, making a stark contrast to the rest of his face. (Y/n)’s heart raced with dread.

Who is this man?

Again raises the question: What the hell happened to her Jake?

She didn’t have time to start crying, not even for a second. When the man rose his weapon above (Y/n)’s head, she took her chance. With another strained scream, (Y/n) quickly pushed her own blade into Jake’s torso, causing the man to jitter and wheeze.

Another stab, this time near his heart.

Driven by the shock, he drops his bloodied, cursed hunting knife beside her head with shaking hands. His blood from his chest dripped onto hers.

One more, directly in his heart. 

Jake finally moves. He yanks (Y/n)’s hand away, ripping the weapon out of his chest. 

He sat there on his knees, bleeding out from both sides of his body. He had no way to stop the bleeding, relying on his windbreaker to hold him up for god knows how long. Jake’s eyes gone from a deep azure to his normal, humanly brown-chocolate eyes. His chest heaved, gulping down air that never seem to fully reach his lungs, his skin goes pale and clammy, the veins in his neck mysteriously glowing purple.

His now warm irises fixated on (Y/n), whose in a state of shock. Those warm eyes held no anger, no signs of feeling betrayed, any negative emotions had melted into softness.

**_ For So Many Reasons _ **

Jake lies on the ground on his side, alive, but trying his best to cling onto his conscience. He stares at nothing else, but (Y/n). The woman kneeling in front of him shook. She no longer held the knife in her hands, all were scattered on the ground. The ones Jake used are slowly dissipating into the fog like a melting, ashen candle, sizzling back where it came from. 

Looking at Jake’s bloody form now, (Y/n) wanted to cry. Her gaze shifted from him to Danny’s dead body on the ground a few feet away from them. Why did it always have to end in violence, she thought. Standing up, the limping woman made her way over to Danny, then knelt down again. The sight made her want to wail. 

His honey eye is bloodshot and dead, little to no sign of a flicker of life in them. His body is stiff, pale and seemingly cold. Covered in tears and in blood, along with more of the dark, bodily fluid painting the lower half of his face. He had flesh wounds on the corner of his mouth and on his eye, along with irritated scratches that littered his tanned skin. 

“Danny.. It’s gonna be okay, Danny.” (Y/n) closes the eye that isn’t lacerated, having a peace of mind that Danny can rest in peace, wherever he is now. She can and can’t believe that the man even risked his life to save hers, judging from his attitude. Sure they were friends, but he talked about her being dead a few times before. 

None of that mattered now. She tried to return the favor of him risking his life by retrieving his knife. (Y/n) somehow managed to ignore her injuries get it. However, had she not hesitate to stab Jake the first time, Danny probably would’ve lived.

Shame. She felt shame again. 

But did it matter? If what Jake said is true, then Danny is living his best life right now. The moment he stopped struggling was proof that he wanted to die and go back home. And honestly? (Y/n) doesn’t blame him at all.

Still. She wondered how things would’ve turned out, had Danny lived. With one, final look at the man resting (Y/n)’s focus goes back to Jake. She crawls to him, brows furrowed upwards in sadness.

She didn’t want to hurt him at all, she didn’t want him to hurt other people, but for some reasons that she knows and didn’t know, it happened anyway. She knew why she had to hurt Jake, but why exactly did he began killing other people? 

“I wanted to protect you.”

(Y/n) winces. She didn’t even realize she asked that out loud. “T-that can’t be it, there has to be more, you can’t just-” She breathes. “No one at the campfire wanted to hurt me.”

Jake abruptly coughed, fits of hacking and laughter came in small bursts before it ended. Blood fell from his mouth, dripping off his chin. “Y-Yui did.” He spoke a hoarse, gravelly voice.

(Y/n) blinked, lowering a hand that reached out for him during his fit. “How do you know that?”

“The Entity’s power came with some.. benefits.” 

“The Entity’s wha... What benefits?!”

“You wouldn’t understand.” He takes a deep breath. “C’mere, (Y/n).”

She isn’t satisfied with the answer, but she crawls closer to Jake anyways. Once close enough, Jake rose up with both hands and worked to undo his orange windbreaker. Uttering no words, he removed the jacket with some struggle and wrapped it around (Y/n). Wearing only his torn, black t-shirt, he laid back down. “Put it on. It’ll keep you warm.”

She does. The woman doesn’t like what he’s doing though, deliberately letting himself bleed out without any sort of immediate intervention. “Jake, what’s- gonna happen to you?” She almost stops mid-sentence, noticing the shimmering, purple veins in his arms. “What is happening to you..?”

“I can’t wait to breathe the clean air in that forest..”

“What..?”

“You’re gonna forget about me, but I will never forget you, (Y/n).”

“Stop saying that!” She trembles again, clutching the jacket. “Why couldn’t- things just be different?”

“Yeah I know, I-I fucked up.” He grasps her sleeve and pulls her into him. (Y/n) happily obliges, uncaring of his blood smearing on her. “But I kept thinking; that if I can help you leave this place while protecting you, I’d do whatever’s necessary.”

She stays silent, leaning carefully on his chest.

“It was crazy, yeah. But, as soon as I got that knife, it didn’t sound so crazy anymore.” Jake stops. For a moment he stops breathing and it confuses (Y/n), but then he resumes. “I had friends. Dwight, Meg, and especially Claudette. But they were family, better than my real family at least. I never had someone to love, until you came along. I didn’t want to lose you.” He said darkly, using what strength he had to squeeze (Y/n) into a hug.

“I was never going to leave you, Jake.” She spoke in a small, shaking voice. “You don’t know how bad I wanted to help you change..”

He doesn’t answer.

“Jake..?”

“I’m weak.”

“H-huh?”

“It’s funny. My father always had control. To represent strength or somethin’.. and I’m his weakest son.”

It.. slowly began to make sense. (Y/n) lies a hand his cheek, stroking it with her thumb. 

“Jake, no.“

“I turned out to be just like the bastard, huh..? Controlling. Abusive piece of shit like him..”

“He doesn’t control you anymore.”

“Thank fucking god.” Jake presses his lips against (Y/n)’s forehead and kisses. She shook. He was cold, dangerously cold. Looking back at his arms now, the veins are becoming invisible.

“Jake?”

No answer.

“J-Jake!”

“Hm?”

She sat up, an idea running through her mind. “The camp isn’t far right? I-I’ll go get-“

“It’s far.”

“It’s right there!” (Y/n) points to the dome of light ahead of them. “I’ll get someone to help, you don’t have to die here- ah!” She was tugged back down, sort of in her original position.

“I want to die here.” Jake deadpans, pulling the woman in for cuddles again. He saw tears finally pool in her eyes as she lets herself be pulled. 

“W-what if we don’t go back to the real world..?”

“We will.”

“Jake-“

“And I won’t forget you.”

“But you said I will!” 

“I’ll find you (Y/n) and we will start over. In peace.”

“How do you know that!?”

“If there’s one time you can trust me, now would be the time.”

She goes silent at that and buries her face in his collarbone. She can’t hear his heartbeat anymore.

“Jake?”

“Hm?”

She breathes a sigh of relief. “I love you.”

“Heheh, I love you more..”

“Jake, now’s not the time to joke around.“

“I’m just teasing, (Y/n).. come back inside, I got some food for us.”

“.. W-what?”

“I’ll bring my mum over for din.. like you said.”

“Jake? Are you there?”

Her answer was met with one, shallow breath. 

Then nothing.

“Jake please, I-I don’t want to forget you. Please-”

The realization hits her like a truck. Dread builds up in her stomach as (Y/n) pleads and sat up. She shook Jake’s limp body once, twice, three times for good measure. Her warm skin met with his cold skin as she frantically checked around for any pulse. The results brought more tears in her widened, already puffy (e/c) eyes.

There was none.

She was left alone with two dead bodies on the ground, speaking of which began to grow more lines of blue and rose otherworldly pollen. (Y/n) holds Jake tight, his head on her lap. Her fingers run through his soft, messy hair as she slightly rocks them both back and forth. Looking at his relaxed, resting expression and closed eyes, her body jitters. The tears constantly fall onto his face and her lip quivers. 

(Y/n)’s silent cries turn into short gasps, then to shaky sobs, and finally her entire body and voice wracked with desperate, painful wails of melancholy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	20. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time to move on.

**_ Mute _ **

“.. be alright?”

“No I.. don’t think she will.”

“Christ.. what do you think happened here?”

“Something er.. s-someone murdered them.”

“So we still have a traitor on our hands.” 

(Y/n) jitters at that voice, a silky voice. She knows this woman. Doesn’t she? She tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids won’t budge. In fact, none of her limbs will. It was like she was in a state of sleep paralysis, slipping in and out of consciousness as well.

“I-I really hope not, but that’s what it looks like.”

She knows that voice too. Claudette.

“This is all messed up.. Let’s go and stick to one another. We won’t let them get to us.” Said a more manly voice, full of authority, but kind. 

“Adam, I can’t just leave them here!” Claudette sniffles. “They’re both gone and they- I can’t do anything.”

(Y/n) wanted to speak to her. She wanted to comfort Claudette as many times as she did for (Y/n). Unfortunately, her body doesn’t move a muscle. Breathing was difficult and her bones felt like it turned into ice. The woman couldn’t feel a thing, but a shred of her fragile conscience. Her memory is shot, pieces of the events that happened before she collapsed lingered in her mind.

She remembered that despite having Jake’s oversized jacket cover her, she still bled out. The windbreaker kept her alive long enough to mourn over the deaths that happened, sit and think about how unfair this whole situation-no, how unfair life has been. It’s one thing to have your misfortunes come daily, but it’s another thing where you’ve been thrown into a place very similar to the depictions of Hell. On top of that: you find your first real love there, only for him to turn out to be the murderer of your friends, have the relationship crumble and end up killing that same person.

It was a lot to process for (Y/n), but eventually she found the strength to go towards the dim light of the campfire. She only made it about halfway there until she passed out from shock.

“I’m sorry.” She heard Adam say, before her mind shuts down.

. ..

“.. some cuffs.”

“Cuffs!?”

“Yeah, a lot of them too.” Yui explains in a low tone. 

“Was someone keeping them hostage?”

“I- Honestly, I don’t know. Some of Jake’s and (Y/n)’s stuff we’re in that tent.”

“W-what about Danny?”

“I couldn’t find anything of his. Maybe he’s the one who killed them.. our only lead is his knife. Sick fucker..”

“Yui-“

“What? He could’ve betrayed us all.”

(Y/n)’s body shook. No, no he did not betray them. What was Yui thinking? If she could speak right now, she’d tell them the truth. Everything that went down. 

“(Y/n)?” Comes in Yui’s worried voice. “I think I saw her move..” (Y/n) felt something warm on her forehead, then her neck. She assumed it was a hand, but she felt so cold that it was hard to tell. 

Hm..

There was also something keeping in what warmth her forearm had. It was soft, like a small blanket but not quite.

“Do you feel a pulse?”

“.. No.” Claudette’s voice trembles.

“Hey hey hey, look.. it’s okay. I know how much she and Jake meant to you.”

“W-what am I supposed to do.. ? They were my best friends and I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” A small, almost inaudible thud can be heard, along with seconds of pressure on (Y/n)’s chest. One after another. Rain? 

“We let them rest. Besides, you’re not alone. You got us here. And you have Adam.”

“Adam?”

“Yeah. Ya know, you should confess to him, before it’s too late.”

“Wha- How do you know!?”

“It’s pretty obvious, Claudette.”

. . . 

Someone is holding her head, their delicate hand cradling the back of it. Although freezing, (Y/n)’s body is covered by something other than Jake’s windbreaker. A blanket. It only covered up to her neck, leaving her some room to breathe. The wind of the realm is soothing against her chilled skin, lulling her in and out of sleep.

She opens her eyes.

The blue pollen in the maroon sky are like moving stars in the night, with the exception of some of them being too close to her face to look like them. Still, nothing can go wrong with lying on the ground with a blanket, stargazing, and having someone coddling you while you’re sleepy. (Y/n) groaned through her closed mouth, forcing herself to look away from the sky. Her vision is extremely blurry, but she make out a few things.

On her right stood the oh so familiar bonfire, burning in a bright, proud blaze despite the world around it. A few logs behind it are illuminated by the fiery light, with some people curled up or sitting and sleeping near them. She couldn’t see exactly who they are, but she assumed the big haired woman sleeping on the ground was Élodie and the other, Dwight sleeping while sitting down. How he can do that, (Y/n) has no clue.

Viewing what’s on her left, it took her a moment or two to realize that there’s two bodies lying beside her. Both are shielded away from the pollen and the light of the bonfire, being covered from head to toe by blankets. Her heart began to ache. (Y/n) didn’t know which one was Jake or Danny, but wherever they are now, she hoped that they’re at least safe.

“You’re alive.”

(Y/n) blinks and gazes up at the source of the voice. Claudette Morel, the one holding her head right now. (Y/n) shook again. She hasn’t seen her in so long..

“I knew you were always a little toughie. Your body gave up, but you haven’t, huh?”

If she could answer, she would. Instead, she croaked in response. It causes Claudette to giggle and began brushing strands of hair out of (Y/n)’s face. The laugh, although sounding relief, is also broken.

“I’m proud of you, (Y/n). Really, I am. But, you gotta let go.”

“Hm..?”

“Yeah.. I’ll miss you, but being in the real world is waay better than being in this hellhole.”

“Mmph..”

Going against her wishes, the medic places a palm near (Y/n)’s half-lidded eyes and closes them. About a second and some shuffling later, (Y/n) can smell something.. soft. Flowery and homey, like camomile, vanilla, and something else she couldn’t quite pinpoint. It wafts itself into her senses, the aroma immediately relaxing her body.

“Here. A little aromatherapy should help.”

“Mmm.” (Y/n) groaned in disapproval, eliciting another chuckle from Claudette.

“I know, I know. But, you have to sleep.. Just, let go.”

She didn’t want to, but she knew the botanist is right. She’s always been right. Having no ability to talk nor move, staying behind until the last minute would be useless. She had so many things to say to Claudette, so much to witness, so much to do before the Entity dies.

However, the amount of fortune and misfortune she had always got in the way of her life. She couldn’t control that, but she can control her future once she fully awakes. Yeah.. it was cheesy as hell, but it sounds about right for two, glaring reasons: (Y/n) is simply dead in this realm, and now her spirit needed to return to Earth. Without another peep, the woman slowly goes limp, conscious fading into clouds and falling out of her form. She breathes her true, final breath for this wretched place. Sealing the deal that she will never come back here again.

“There you go, hon.. goodbye (Y/n), I hope that we’ll be friends in the real world.”

**_ Epilogue  _ **

“Need a cleanup?”

“No no, I’m fine. How long do I have?” Yui ties her sleek, black hair into a ponytail, brushing it afterwards into one, bouncy curl.

“Five minutes.” Her partner lowers her voice into a whisper. “Uhh, are you sure you wanna race this bitch? She’s wants a lot of money out of us.”

Yui scoffed. “Don’t think I’ll win, Nadia?”

Nadia squeaks. “No! I mean, yes. I mean-ugh.. I just don’t want you to get hurt. That Maiko girl looks shady as hell.”

Putting on her goggles, Yui turns to face Nadia with a smirk. “How do I look?”

“What?”

“You like the purple?”

“Uhh..” Nadia goes over Yui’s racing ensemble. It didn’t look much different from her more iconic one, the colors are swapped from pink to purple and the previous white accents are neon pink, magenta almost. Tied around her forearm, as always, is her lucky hachimaki. “You look.. different.”

“Different as iiiin? Come on, gimme some details Nadi.”

“Different as in, this is different from your other outfits.. I like it!”

“Hahah, good!”

“Is this our new Yui? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear something other pink.” The tan skinned woman makes her way to Yui, dusting off any dirt that made home to her clothes.

“Mmm.. purple just feels right today. I feel like I’m gonna win. Nah, I _am_ gonna win today.”

“That’s the spirit, Yui!” Nadia flips around to the makeup table, black hair styled in a bob that framed her face with rowdy strands. 

“Getting ready to cheer me on, Nadi?”

“Hell yeah! Gotta look good while yelling, all eyes will be on you and me.”

“Thanks, I’m glad. Today, I’ll need your support more than ever.”

With that, Yui leaves the breakroom to head towards the field and to her waiting motorcycle, giving her now confused partner no room to ask any questions. Ever since the racer woke up that morning a few weeks ago, she felt what Nadia said: Different. It was like she was an entirely different person, while still being Yui. What struck her as odd though is her hachimaki. It stays the same, but it has more meaning. Of what? Yui could not tell. Everytime she thought about it, nothing but extremely fuzzy and unrecognizable images comes to mind.

As if the cloth couldn’t be even more important to her, Yui didn’t even want to take it off by bedtime. She stares at it endlessly, growing more fond of it day by day. It was sentimental after all and losing it meant.. well, she didn’t want to think about it. She couldn’t afford to fill her mind with negative thoughts either, not when the race is starting.

When the announcers voice rang through her head, Yui snaps out of her thoughts and gets on her bike. Confidence builds up in her again, powering her with strength and speed. She didn’t even spare a glance at the glaring woman named Maiko beside her, the competitor mumbling about stealing Yui’s title or something.

Whatever.

With another smile and the wave of a flag, Yui races off into the night. Her outfit glows amongst the stars and bounces off the moonlight, making her a bright, beautiful comet within the grounds of her own race.

. . . 

AdamFran: Hey, Claudette? I was wondering if you time to talk? There’s something on my mind

AdamFran: Sorry to bother you again.

CMorchella: It’s fine Adam! Bother me whenever u wanna lol :) what can I help u with?

AdamFran: One of my students are having trouble with his work.

AdamFran: He’s a good kid, but he seems to struggle with comprehension. It doesn’t matter how simple I try to make it for him, it doesn’t work

CMorchella: Awe, how old is he?

AdamFran: He’s 20

AdamFran: It confuses me a lot. I talked to him about his past experiences in school and it sounds off. I think his teachers just let him pass without checking his grades.

CMorchella: Yikes! ;-; That sounds really, really rough. Does he have any parents? U can maybe get some clues out of them

AdamFran: His parents are rich and they don’t talk to him much. I doubt they know anything 

AdamFran: I’m sorry, I don’t know what to do. I tried contacting professionals, but they do nothing for him. I swear they just want his money

CMorchella: That’s just sad

CMorchella: This is a a stupid question, but how often do u talk to him?

AdamFran: A lot. He only talks to me it seems, he has a friend but I have doubts about her too.

CMorchella: Ok! What are his interests?

AdamFran: Music and Art. He likes making sculptures out of anything and oddly enough for a grown man, he plays with these colorful block toys that sticks together 

CMorchella: Aw! :3

AdamFran: That’s cute to you? Lol

CMorchella: Yeah! We all have our guilty pleasures 

AdamFran: Really??

AdamFran: I still have my blanket from 13 years ago. I sleep with it whenever I’m feeling down

CMorchella: 13 years ago!??? Awe Adam, that’s adorable!

AdamFran: Yeah lol. I guess we’re all kids on the inside 

AdamFran: But back to my student. Any advice?

CMorchella: So he likes building with blocks and sculpting. what if he learns by doing something with his hands?

AdamFran: Uhh, that’s sounds weird lol

CMorchella: It’s not weird! :) He can also learn something if his lessons are more creative and artistic. Stuff like that stays in his mind and it’ll be hard to forget

CMorchella: That’s how I learn. I couldn’t be taught normally like the other kids

AdamFran: Are you saying what I think you’re saying?

CMorchella: It’s possible Adam. Especially since he’s been neglected by everyone except u of course there’s something u might not know about him

AdamFran: I see. I’ll get to the bottom of this then, I wanna do anything I can to help him succeed 

CMorchella: That’s the Adam I know! <3

AdamFran: Lol thanks for everything Claudette 

CMorchella: No prob!

AdamFran: Wanna talk later? 

AdamFran: I got plans to go Canada for a vacation soon

AdamFran: Long story short, I’d be happy to meet a friend

CMorchella: :0 u mean like face to face? Sure!! 

AdamFran: Yeah lol

AdamFran: Talk to you later, Claudette 

CMorchella: >3< See ya Adam!!

Claudette closes her light green laptop and sits back on the headboard of her bed. Her palms immediately cover her face, then she releases a cheerful shout. She was excited! After knowing and talking to Adam for months, she developed a crush on the man. It’s crazy, ever since he appeared in her group chat, he’s been very easy to befriend. He was like her long lost friend and they were having a happy reunion. Now, he’s like her best friend and going a day without chatting with him felt depressing.

It was hard though, especially since they were so far away from each other, but thank goodness for transportation. She just hopes nothing bad happens, like him becoming sick, or the plane crashing, or the train stopping, or the whole entire world coming to an end literally a day before their-

“Ah! Stop it. Get it together girl.” She whispers to herself and hops off her bed, going out of her room to grab a snack from the kitchen. Yeah, a snack is all she needs. And of course, some hot tea to calm her down. In due time, in due time.

. . .

“You- You made all of this?”

“Yeah. It’s small and it’s uh, far from perfect, but it’ll do.”

“No, it’s amazing..! It’s gotta be nice, having a home you built yourself.” (Y/n) makes her way through the living room, eyeing a dark-grey couch that somehow looks like it’s been recently upholstered. She sat down on the comfortable furniture, looking at an unlit fireplace in front of her. “You don’t have to worry about bills or mortgage or anything. Not even nagging landlords..” She sighs tiredly and lies back on the seat, relishing within the plush.

“Nnno, but I do have to worry about people ruining my lawn. A couple of teenagers think they can just camp here for whatever reason.” The man talking to (Y/n) stepped towards the couch and slouched down next to her, relaxing immediately afterwards. The man is Jake Park, wearing a waterproof, black jacket that he soon shucked off carelessly. He wore a simple, light blue T-shirt and black pants. His hair is short and messy, messy just like his rough, stubble beard that he often scratches. The expression he gave playfully reminded (Y/n) of a grumpy, grizzly bear.

“Heheh, I can imagine you waving around a stick and yelling at them to get off your lawn..!”

“Stick?” Jake briefly widens his eyes and raises his eyebrows at (Y/n), offended. “M’grabbing my shotgun.” 

She gasped. “Jake! They’re just teenagers!” Despite her concern, she couldn’t help the laughter in her tone of voice. 

“Uh yeah, exactly. Wiggling a stick around won’t scare’em off, but I know damn well a gun will.”

“That’s just mean.” (Y/n) smiles, leaning further back into the couch.

“I _am_ mean.”

“No you’re not, you’re just.. um.” (Y/n) pinches at a purple cloth wrapped around her forearm, the piece settling down her nerves.

“Not nice?” The woodsman finishes for her, his look softening.

“Y-yeah. Not nice, but not mean. You’re just Jake.”

“You don’t like Jake?” He teases, wearing a smirk which causes (Y/n) to blink, wishing to cover the heat on her face. “I didn’t say that! I uh.. I do like you, Jake.” 

“You like me, (Y/n)?” His gravelly voice becomes playful and devilish. It brings so much heat to (Y/n)’s cheeks that she abruptly stands up and turns to head off somewhere. 

“I’m gonna get a drink of water!”

Jake couldn’t help but to chuckle to himself, bringing himself to stand afterwards and stretch. “Do you even know where the kitchen is, (Y/n)?” He raises his voice a bit louder so she can hear him.

“... No! But, I’ll find it!” She disappears behind a wall, finding herself in a compact hallway of sorts.

“That’s my room ahead. The kitchen is on the right.” 

“Oh, okay!”

“Unless you wanna go to my room then-“

“Jake!”

The man chuckles again, seeing the blushing woman hurriedly make her way to the kitchen. He follows after her, feeling bad because of his antics, but not too bad. “You make it so easy.”

“M-make what easy?”

He pokes her cheek. “Teasing you, (Y/n).”

She shifts her gaze away from him, resisting a pout as she stops in front of a sink. “I try not to..”

Jake reaches up to a cupboard above them, opening it and grabbing a light-blue mug for (Y/n), a mug that read ‘Cosmic Afterburn’. “Just so you know, I like it. But, I’ll never try to make you mad, y’know?”

She smiles at that statement, grabbing the mug and turning on the filtered water faucet. “Really now?”

“Of course. I got another chance, can’t ever ruin it.”

“Wha?” (Y/n)’s turns off the water and gives Jake a look. Sipping from her mug, she felt genuinely confused. He’s said this times before, but she never knew what he meant. Thinking about it strangely causes a headache and her mind comes a sudden ‘stop’. Is she forgetting something? “Here you go again, talking nonsense.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you someday.”

“Mmhm sure, how about right now? Just spill it!” She steps towards him. Her turn to tease.

“Hmm.. if you want me to tell ya the story now, it’ll require an itty bitty smooch on the cheek.”

Or not.

(Y/n)’s face goes red as she began drinking more of her water, suddenly feeling more parched than before. “Tell m-me later then!” The woman hurries out of the kitchen and into the living room, leaving Jake to stare fondly at her before he decided to accompany her again.

. . .

“I didn’t kill them! He did! I swear I-!”

“Yeah yeah, that’s what they all say. You know, you’re pretty fuckin’ low.”

“Fuck you!”

“Ugh, no thanks. Smells like you live in a goddamn sewer, how do you even get laid?” Danny waves his gloved hand in front of his ghostly mask, chuckling darkly. “I’ve seen alley rats worth more than you.”

The thug squirms against his rope restraints, no longer fearing for the inevitable, but instead angry at the Ghostface’s condescending attitude. 

“You’ll fucking pay for this you bitch. I’ll get my men to kill you and your family! I’ll tear your-“

“Family? You really like killing families, huh? Well unlucky for you, I ain’t got any.” Danny raises a boot and slams it on the thugs head, rubbing his face on the concrete until he screamed and bled. “It’s funny, reeeal funny. You were known as the criminal that the police couldn’t even catch. You were soooo feared amongst the world and gave the FBI a run for their money.”

“D-damn straight! If you know what’s good for you, you’ll-argh!!” Danny stomps on his head so hard that a tooth fell out. 

“Mhm. Do you know how many times I’ve heard that before? You don’t know, but I’ll ya: A. lot.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a camera, snapping a few photos and different angles of the thug’s face. He then took one last picture of him and the thug, crushing his shoe against the jaw now to reveal more of his face. “Aand there we go. This’ll drive the media nuts.”

The thug’s breathing becomes rapid with anger at the thought of humiliation. “My men will come for you!”

“Okay.” Danny was too busy looking through the photos, deleting the bad ones and keeping the good ones.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!”

“My god, is that all you can say? I swear most of you are just boring, brainless ruffians.” Drawing a knife and putting the camera away, Danny moves his foot off the thug and leans down in a threatening manner. 

“I bet when I say ‘any last words?’ you’ll say something basic like, ‘fuck you!’ or something like that.”

“Kill me. Just do it, you bitch!”

“Oh? Ohh, now I didn’t expect that! Maybe I’ll remember you. Whatever your name is.”

“It’s C-“ The thug didn’t get to tell him. Danny drove his blade into his ribs, forcing the criminal to release a bloodcurdling cry. His entire torso was assaulted by multiple stab wounds, until Danny finally killed the screaming man with a blade to his neck, watching in delight as blood gushed from the injury like his personal fountain. The result is like always, an ugly, brutal murder that’ll probably shut some parts of the city down.

“Whoops.” With a dark cloak and white mask covered in blood, Danny stood up and grabbed his camera again. He snapped another picture of him and the thug, then turned away and left him to rot on ground, underneath the basement of a tall, dark and closed building. 

Danny sighed softly as he made his way out, hiding amongst the shadows to head on home without being caught. He blended in well, but anyone who did see him only thought of the man as a ghostly apparition or an illusion. 

He had his fill for the day, murdering a well-known serial killer will do wonders for his reputation.

But, he still hungered.

He didn’t know what was causing it. He tried killing innocents, criminals, angels and devils alike, but nothing of the sort could satisfy him. Granted, Danny found that targeting criminals is more fun than terrorizing the weak and helpless, unless the helpless fought back with their feeble strength. Maybe. But no, just some random person he stalked for a few days isn’t enough. He needed a very special target, someone who he could be obsessed with for days on end. Their murder will be soo satisfying that he wouldn’t kill for weeks.

Danny smiles under the mask. Yeah, he’ll find that special someone. Oh he will and he’ll draw out their torture for as long as he wants. He’ll make sure that their death would shake the world and that he’ll be infamous for such a sick, sick murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s the end, huh.
> 
> I have a lot of room for improvement, and I plan on being as good of a writer like many others on this site.
> 
> But for now, if you made it this far, thank you so much for reading my very first fanfic. 
> 
> Like really, it means a ton. 🥺


End file.
